Love Comes In Pairs
by FluffyAddict
Summary: Brooke Cole, a long time friend of the Weasley family, finds herself falling in love with both Fred and George Weasley. What happens if they both love her back? Will this one girl tear apart the bonds of brotherhood and the ties of twins?
1. More Than A Feeling

_This is a story me, Fluffy, and my bestest friend, Addict, wrote together. We only got so far as the first chapter together but from there I took the reins and added to it so there will be more! We're hoping next time we write a story we can do the whole thing together. Also, all the chapter titles are song titles. See if you know the song and artist! ^^_

_~Fluffy_

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**PART 1-MORE THAN A FEELING**  
The clock buzzed loudly in Brookes ear jumping her out a perfectly serene sleep, she groaned and slammed her hand on the snooze button then felt around for the off button. When she couldn't find it she yanked the cord out of the socket instead, it was just as effective. Brooke sat up in bed rubbing her temples she was glad the lights were off and her window was covered by a heavy curtain. Suddenly Brooke's mom Sherri popped into her room in front of the window and swept her curtains away filling the room with blindingly bright natural sunlight. Brooke squinted her eyes and shielded her face with her hand.

"Mum, you seriously did not just apparte in here?" Brooke said exasperatedly.

"Morning to you too, Brooke," Sherri said, smiling cheerily.

"Who said anything about it being good?"

"If you had been listening you would have realized I made no such claim."

Brooke rolled her eyes and glared at Sherri.

"Do you mind leaving, mum, I have to get ready."

"Make it quick, we have to get to Kingscross station by 10:30 and it's 8:45."

"Fine."

Sherri smiled and swept out of Brooke's room closing the door softly behind her. Brooke stood up and walked towards her bathroom and went inside to get ready. When she stepped back out into her room Bailey, her 13 year old sister, was sitting on her bed digging around under her mattress and pillows.

"How many times do I have to tell you that I don't keep a diary, Bailey?" Brooke said, her arms crossed while she tapped her foot.

"Until I believe you."

"Get out."

"Ask nicely."

"Get out or I'll tell mum about what really happened to her favorite glass doll."

"Fine," Bailey said walking to the door and sticking her tongue out at Brooke,. Brooke did the grown up thing and stuck her tongue back out at her. Then Brooke followed Bailey out into the dining room where Sherri was cooking breakfast with Bridget having a tantrum on her side.

"Breakfast, dear?" Sherri asked sighing.

"Yeah," replied Brooke, then she walked forward and picked up Bridget rubbing their noses together until Bridget stopped crying then Brooke placed her in the high chair next to the table and sat down beside her while Bailey sat as far away as she could get. Sherri plopped down pancakes and syrup on the table and Brooke began to shovel food into her mouth quickly wanting to get done.

"Slow down, eating faster isn't going to make the boys come any quicker," Bailey said.

"Yeah, yeah," Brooke said slowing down some. Sherri shook her head as she sat down on the other side of Bridget and started feeding her since she was only three years old. Brooke finished eating then quickly ran into the living room, Bailey followed her.

"Brooke, they're not going to come this early," Bailey said, looking down at her watch.

"Yeah I know," Brooke said sadly as she sat down on the couch As soon as Brooke reached the cushion a loud noise came from the fireplace. She looked up right as someone came flying out of the fireplace she laughed and stood up.

"Nice entrance, Fred," Brooke said smiling brightly; Brooke helped Fred up right as George came flying out and crashed into Fred causing Fred to crash into Brooke hard enough to knock her over causing Brooke to land hard on her back. She looked up and gasped softly when she noticed how close Fred, who had landed on top of her, was to her. If he moved towards her any more their lips would touch.

"Uh," Brooke said blushing, George grabbed Fred's arm and pulled him off of Brooke.

"Sorry," Fred said blushing, then looked away from Brooke.

"It's okay," Brooke said, standing up and Bailey began to laugh.

"Oh wow, Fred, your face is red," Bailey said teasingly.

"Shut up Bailey," Brooke said gently, pushing her into the dining room.

"So, boys, you can go eat if you want," Brooke said smiling warmly. Fred and George's faces brightened up and they both ran into the dining room, she laughed and followed them. When Brooke walked in Bridget started crying.

"Oh, sweetie, what's wrong?" Brooke asked, as she picked her up and placed Bridget on her hip. Bridget wrapped her little arms around Brooke and continued crying. "Shhh," Brooke said gently rocking her.

"You're going to be a wonderful mum, Brooke," George said, smiling at her.

"Thanks, George," she said blushing. Fred looked up at her then at George then back down at his plate sighing sadly.

"Something wrong, Fred?" Brooke said, hearing his sigh.

"Nope nothing's wrong," he said looking up at her and smiling. Brooke smiled back at him then looked at Bridget who had stopped crying.

"Let's get you dressed sweetie," Brooke said, taking Bridget up to her room so she could change her, Brooke walked into Bridget's room and set her down on the changing table. She then walked over to her dresser and started looking through it for something for her to wear.

"Hey, Brooke," Fred said from the doorway.

"Oh, hey, Fred," Brooke said, glancing up at him then looking back down at the dresser, Fred walked over to Bridget and started tickling her. Bridget begun laughing like crazy, Brooke turned around and watched him a smile on her face.

"What?" he asked smiling at her.

"Nothing," she said, shaking her head slightly and walked over to Bridget where she quickly changed her then picked her up.

"There we go," Brooke said, smiling at Bridget.

"Brooke, you have ten minutes, get a move on!" Sherri shouted from downstairs. "Same goes for you, Bailey!"

"Can you take Bridget out to the car, Fred? I have to get my things," Brooke said, and Fred nodded picking Bridget up in his arms and walked downstairs with her. Then Brooke slipped into her room and pulled her trunk into the doorway along with her owl cage. Bailey followed stat and dropped her things off at the doorway.

"Sean, come put the kid's things in the car!" Sherri shouted into the background, then came around the wall with Bridget on her hip.

Fred got rid of you that fast, huh, Bridget?" Brooke asked, reaching forward and pulling Bridget out of Sherri's arms, she traced Bridget's face with her finger smiling as Bridget giggled. Sean walked into the room and grudgingly began to pack Brooke and Bailey's thing into the van.

"Time to go, children," Sherri said pushing Brooke, Bailey, Fred and George out the door and towards the van. Brooke slid into the backseat and fastened Bridget into the car seat in the middle while Bailey slid in on the other side. Fred and George stepped in after them sitting in the middle seat of the van. Sherri pulled out her wand and waved it around thinking spells in her head which slid the cages next to the car, shut the door and windows, then Brooke heard the locks click into place. Sean put the cages into the trunk then jumped into the driver's seat while Sherri got into the passengers' seat.

"We're off to see the wizard," Bailey said.

"Literally," Brooke said, and everyone smiled, even Bridget.


	2. Every Mile a Memory

_From here on out this story is purely written by Fluffy! Of course the inspiration stems from chapter 1 and the awesomness that is Addict._

_~Fluffy_

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**PART 2-EVERY MILE A MEMORY**

"Hurry now, children, we're already late!" Sherri shouted, as she and Sean pulled the things out of the trunk and onto the trolley. Fred and George joined them until everything of Brooke's and Bailey's was on one trolley. "We have to leave from here, your father and I will be late for work."

Sherri walked forward and kissed Brooke and Bailey on the cheek, Sean reached down and hugged them then piled back into the car. Brooke quickly slid back into the back seat and gave Bridget a quick kiss on the cheek.

"I'll miss you so much, sweetie," Brooke said, and bit her lip to stop from crying as she pulled out of the backseat and shut the door. Sherri and Sean waved as they drove away and Brooke sniffed.

"You've done this six times already, Brooke, it's my third and I'm not crying!" Bailey said, rolling her eyes and pushed with all her weight on the trolley but it wouldn't budge. Fred joined her and pushed it with her. George found his way to Brooke and wrapped an arm around her shoulders comfortingly.

"You'll see them soon, Brooke," he said, and Brooke nodded and dried her eyes.

"Yeah, I know, let's get going, we really can't miss the train," Brooke said, smiling, and caught up to Fred and Bailey with George on her heels. They slid through the platform between nine and three quarters and came out on the other side; they watched as people rushed to get into the train and knew their time was short.

"I'm guessing we need to rush about now," Bailey said, and Brooke helped push the trolley towards the door, she jumped inside with Fred and pulled her and Bailey's things into the hallway and then with the help of George lugged them along till they found an open compartment. They put the bags above their heads then plopped down on the seats.

"That, was a close one," Brooke said, and Fred and George laughed. Bailey just rolled her eyes.

"Hey, Bails, nervous about your third year?" asked George.

"Nope, at least I'm not a wreck like Brooke was when she first started, I wanted to strangle her just to make her shut up," Bailey answered, and Brooke blushed, she had been a very big wreck on her first day.

"I remember that," Fred said chuckling. "Me and George didn't help it along though, telling you all those stories about kids getting lost in the hallways that disappeared or got eaten by the ghosts."

"Good times," George said, and Brooke play punched them both.

"Yeah, that was ever so kind of you guys!" she said, and pulled her legs up next to her, a moment later their compartment door swung open and Lee Jordan walked inside.

"I figured I'd find you in here with Brooke," he said grinning.

"Seeing as we rode here with her, I can understand how you worked that one out," George said, and Brooke chuckled.

"What can we do for you, Lee?" asked Fred.

"Come hang out in the compartment with me and the others for a bit, we've got a lot to catch up on."

Fred and George turned to Brooke and she smiled sweetly, touched they wanted her permission to leave her.

"Go on, boys, I have Bailey to keep me company," Brooke said, and they laughed at that making Bailey stick her tongue out at them all. Fred and George stood up and walked out of the compartment shutting the door behind them.

"Where's all your friends, Brooke?" Bailey asked smugly.

"I don't know, I think I'll go find them," answered Brooke, standing up, she left the compartment and looked around for some of her friends but all the compartments were full and it was hard to see faces. Finally giving up Brooke walked back to her compartment and found Bailey was missing, it seems she went to find her friends too. Brooke lay down across the seat and closed her eyes, tired from waking up early, she yawned before closing her eyes and drifting off to sleep.

"Brooke, Brooke," Brooke heard her name being called and opened her eyes, she saw Fred, or was it George, leaning over her.

"What?" she asked, sitting up and rubbing her eyes.

"It's dark out; you've been asleep a long time."

Brooke blinked a few times and got a better image of the twin in front of her, it was definitely Fred.

"Thanks for waking me up, Fred, how much farther to Hogwarts?" asked Brooke.

"Another hour or two," Fred said, and raised an eyebrow. "How did you know I was Fred?"

"I've always been able to tell you two apart, you know that."

"It's a talent, our mum can barely tell us apart."

Brooke laughed and stretched before looking out the darkened window.

"Where's George?" she asked.

"Still with Lee and the others," answered Fred.

"Why didn't you stay with them?"

"I was bored and I wanted to come see what you were doing."

"Well I am definitely not someone to go to when you're bored, Fred."

"I find you very entertaining."

Brooke laughed and rolled her eyes.

"We both know, I am not entertaining," she said.

"Well, I think you're more interesting than Lee Jordan's summer in Cambodia," said Fred, and faked a yawn.

"How was your summer, I missed not seeing you, what with us taking that trip up to see dad's parents."

"It was really good; me and George have made some new pranks."

"Have you now?" Brooke asked, raising an eyebrow. "None you'll try on me right?"

"Right, that's what the rest of the school is for."

"Fred, that's where you've gone to!" George said, stepping into the compartment and sitting down next to Fred who laughed but Brooke noticed it wasn't as casual a laugh, it seemed almost fake.

"Right, I was bored of listening to Lee's trip," Fred said, chuckling, and George elbowed him.

"What secrets of ours have you managed to draw out of him, Brooke?" George asked.

"No secrets….yet, but I was working up to making him talk," Brooke answered, smirking and the horn on the train blew signaling it was time to change into the school robes.

"Out you two go then," Brooke said, standing up and pointing to the door. "I've got to change."

"We won't look," Fred said.

"Well, we won't stare," George replied, and Brooke shook her head with a grin.

"Out you go," she said, pushing them towards the door as Bailey walked in and pushed them out before shutting the door and drawing the curtain.

"Where've you been?" Brooke asked, as she began to change.

"With Ginny," Bailey answered, slipping her robe over her head.

"How is she?"

"Fine, she missed me over the summer."

"It was strange not seeing any of the Weasleys over the summer wasn't it?"

"Yeah, they're like family."

Brooke slipped her robe over her head then drew back the curtains and opened the door; she felt the train slow down and knew they were pulling into Hogsmeade station.

"Ready for another year, sis?" asked Brooke, and Bailey smiled.

"As long as there isn't some type of dance, I'll be good," Bailey answered.

"Come on, Bailey, why in the world would Hogwarts ever have a dance?"

"To torture us young female who hate dresses."

Brooke laughed and drew Bailey into a big hug and to her surprise Bailey didn't push her away.

"You better enjoy this cause you aren't hugging me for the rest of the year," Bailey said, and Brooke squeezed her tighter.

"I better make up for that then!" she said laughing.


	3. I Couldn't Believe

**PART 3-I COULDN'T BELIEVE**

Brooke stepped off the Hogwarts Express and stood up on her tiptoes trying to find a face she recognized. Suddenly someone bumped into her and being on her tiptoes she lost her balance easily and fell forward onto her hands and knees.

"Are you okay?" a male voice asked, and Brooke saw a hand reach out to help her up.

"Yeah," Brooke said, taking the offered hand and using it to help her to her feet. Once she was eye level she saw it was Lee Jordan who belonged to the helping hand.

"Lee, hey, thanks for the help."

"No problem, if I had passed you by the twins would have killed me."

"Comforting thought, did you see who knocked me down?"

"Some Slytherin pushing her way through the crowd."

Brooke sighed and looked at her scuffed up hands, she could feel her knees were scuffed up too.

"Do you need to go to the Hospital Wing?" asked Lee.

"It would probably be a good idea," Brooke answered.

"I'll take you."

"Thanks."

Lee let Brooke take the lead while he walked beside her; they slipped into a carriage that proceeded to move forward.

"I hear you went to Cambodia over the summer," Brooke said, rubbing her aching leg.

"My whole family did, we stayed almost two months but we had to come back early because of my dad's work," Lee replied.

"What does your dad do?"

"He works at the ministry for the Department of Magical Law Enforcement."

"Does he like his job?"

"Very much, he just wished we could have stayed together longer, my family doesn't get to spend as much time together as we would like."

"I know how that is."

Brooke flashed Lee a smile and then the carriage stopped, Lee stepped out first and reached back to help Brooke out and she took the offer gratefully as her knees were still sore. She followed Lee into the castle then into the Hospital Wing. As if sensing Brooke, Madame Pomfrey appeared in the doorway of her office.

"Sit," Madame Pomfrey said, pointing to a bed, Brooke walked over to the bed and sat down. Lee continued into the room but stopped near the door.

"It's okay, Lee, I'll be fine to get back on my own," Brooke said.

"I can wait, I don't want to walk all the way down to the great hall alone that would be boring," Lee said, grinning and Brooke chuckled. Madame Pomfrey took Brooke's hand and pulled them closer to her face.

"What happened?" she asked.

"Someone pushed me over and I fell on my hands and knees," Brooke replied, and Madame Pomfrey pulled at the knees of Brooke's pants where holes had ripped through in her fall. Madame Pomfrey made a clicking noise with her tongue and stood up. She walked to a cabinet and took out a bottle; she then got a washcloth and poured the contents of the bottle onto the cloth. After rubbing the liquid into the clothe she walked back over to Brooke and dabbed the clothe on Brooke's cuts. They instantly soothed them and she watched as they healed slightly.

"This sped up the healing a little bit but it will take another few days to heal completely," Madame Pomfrey said.

"Good, thanks, Madame Pomfrey," Brooke said, standing up, Madame Pomfrey nodded and walked back into her office, Brooke walked over to Lee and they began to walk down to the Great Hall together.

"How did you and the twins meet?" Brooke asked curiously.

"It was actually on our first day here at school, Fred and George were planning on playing a prank on one of their teachers, they weren't sure which one. I caught them working on the plan and told them the best teacher to prank would have to be Snape. They took my advice and made all the cauldrons in Snape's classroom turn to ice which made them impossible to get hot and therefore we couldn't make any potions. Snape never found out who did it and the twins were so impressed by my knowledge on best people to prank and from that day we never stopped being friends," Lee answered, smiling at the memory.

"Sounds like a true friendship, one that will last."

"I have to say the same for you, you and the twins are very close."

"Yeah we are, it's hard not to like them."

"Says the person they never prank, it's like they're afraid of you."

"Maybe they are."

Brooke broke out laughing at the comment, there was no way Fred and George Weasley were afraid of her and Lee obviously seemed to agree as he was laughing with her. The Great Hall then came out into view and it looked like the stragglers were just filing in. Brooke and Lee caught up to them and slipped inside where Brooke saw Fred wave her over. She walked over to him and slipped in-between him and George while Lee sat opposite them.

"What were you doing with Lee?" Fred asked suspiciously.

"We were snogging in the closet," Brooke said smirking. "Right, Lee?"

Lee turned around not having heard what she asked but answered anyway.

"Yeah, that's right," he said, and turned back to talking to the person next to him.

"See," Brooke said, and Fred rolled his eyes.

"Come on, Brooke, there's no way you were snogging Lee," George said, finally joining the conversation.

"What makes you so sure?"

"Oi, Lee!" Fred called, and Lee turned around annoyed. "Were you and Brooke snogging a few minutes ago?"

"She's much better at it than Angelina my friend," Lee said, winking at Brooke and both Fred and George looked at each across Brooke, she did her best not to laugh at the look on their faces but it was too much and she broke out in giggles.

"I knew you guys didn't really snog!" Fred said accusingly.

"You two don't know how much fun it is to tease you," Brooke said, wrapping her arms around each of their shoulders and pulled them into a group hug. She then released them and showed them her palms. "Lee took me to the Hospital Wing because some Slytherin girl knocked me down and made me scrape up my hands and knees."

"Bloody Slytherins," George said.

"I'll be fine though, good as new in a few days or so Madame Pomfrey tells me."

"It's best to trust her she's helped me and George more times than we can count when our practice pranks go awry," George said, smiling devilishly.

"Anything's possible with you two."

"Shh, Dumbledores about to talk," Fred said, and George smacked him on the arm and Brooke had to break them apart quickly so as not to interrupt Dumbledore as he was taking the podium. She was too busy contending with the boys to stop their petty fighting that she didn't hear a thing Dumbledore was saying and was surprised to see everyone turn to the door. A moment later a group of girls all dressed in blue floated inside throwing flowers and doing a really annoying sigh as they walked up to the front of the room.

"What's going on?" Brooke asked to Lee.

"Weren't you listening?" asked Lee, and Brooke swatted the hand of George that was about to pull Fred's hair.

"As you can see, I've been busy."

"A group of students from Beaxbatons and Durmstrang have come to compete in a tournament known as the Triwizard Tournament."

"Oh."

Brooke finally managed to keep the twins civil for now and watched a group of boys walked through the door carrying staffs that they banged on the floor leaving scorch marks. They reached the front of the room and Dumbledore continued his speech. Brooke learned that the Triwizard tournament was a legendary event that would be competed in by Hogwarts, Beaxbatons, and Durmstrang. Dumbledore then closed his speech by asking the students of Hogwarts to treat the other schools with respect before he stepped down from the podium and food appeared on the plates.

"Wow, did you see that blonde from Beaxbatons?" Fred asked Lee.

"They were all blonde," Lee answered.

"Exactly."

Brooke elbowed Fred in the side and plopped mashed potatoes on his plate.

"Stop gawking, Fred, it's rude," Brooke said.

"Why, Brooke, is that jealousy I hear?"

"I don't care who you like but you're practically drooling and it's quite sad really."

"She's got a point there, Fred," Lee said.

"Shut up, Lee, I feel like you two are ganging up against me and George."

"Maybe we are."

George was too busy stuffing his face to get in on the conversation and Fred tried to kick him across the table but got Brooke instead.

"Ow, Fred!" Brooke said, rubbing her leg.

"Sorry! I missed," Fred said, putting up his hands in defeat, Brooke rolled her eyes.

"I forgive you, now let's eat so we can go up to bed and get some sleep."

"Are you inviting me to join you?"

"Not even in your dreams, Fred, not even in your dreams."


	4. Everybody's Fool

**PART 4-EVERYBODY'S FOOL**

"Ugh, look at this!" Brooke said, shoving the schedule at George's face. "We're lucky enough to have our first day back at school with the Slytherins."

"That's one way to smother any joy of coming back to school," George said, pushing the schedule away.

"Are you saying you were looking forward to another year, George?"

"Not me personally but I know Fred couldn't stop talking about it."

"Couldn't stop talking about what?" Fred asked suspiciously, as he walked into the common room.

"About how much you enjoy school of course," George answered.

"Don't believe these horrific lies, Brooke!"

Brooke giggled at Fred, and George pulled his brother towards him.

"Come on, Fred you, know you couldn't wait for Binns class."

"And you couldn't wait for McGonagall's, the whole school knows you have a crush on her."

"How'd they find out?" George asked, with a fake worried look on his face.

"Come on you two we really should be getting to class," Brooke said, shoving her schedule into her backpack.

"Why do you keep reminding us?" Fred and George asked in unison.

Brooke rolled her eyes at the twins then left the common room taking the memorized route down to Herbology. She was one of the first to arrive and Professor Sprout welcomed her back and Brooke returned the welcome.

"Brooke!" a voice called out from Brooke's left, she turned and saw Angelina Johnson making her way towards Brooke.

"Angelina! How are you?" Brooke asked when Angelina was standing beside her.

"Great, I've been made the new Gryffindor captain!"

"Wow, Ange, that's brilliant!"

"I can't wait to tell the twins, have you seen those two trouble makers about yet this morning?"

"Actually I have, in the common room this morning they should be getting here at any moment."

"Well, while I have you here how was your summer?"

"Great, me and my family went up to see my dad's parents for the first time, they weren't as terrible as I was expecting them to be."

Angelina was just about to ask a question but the twins filed into the greenhouse along with a group of other Gryffindor students and Angelina said goodbye and walked over to them. Brooke turned around and looked back at Professor Sprout who was reading over papers, then the worse part of the morning came when the Slytherins walked inside pushing Gryffindors aside as they did. After rolling her eyes Brooke leaned back against one of the long stone planters and did her best to ignore the Slytherins. One of the Slytherin girls however didn't know how to leave well enough alone and walked over to Brooke with a smug look on her face.

"You're that little girl I knocked over at Hogsmeade station," she said, smirking.

"That was you? Here I was thinking it was some massive pig," Brooke said, smiling sweetly, the Slytherin girl scrunched her nose and made to make a move closer to Brooke but the twins interceded taking a place on each side of Brooke and stared down the Slytherin. No longer wanting to mess with Brooke now that she had backup the girl turned around with a "humph" sound and walked over to the Slytherin group.

"What was her problem?" Fred asked.

"She's a Slytherin, I think that about covers it," answered Brooke. "Thanks for coming to my rescue even though I was nowhere near being a damsel in distress."

"We never consider you to be anything close to that, Brooke, but three sets of fists are always better than one," George said, winking.

"I'll agree with you there," said Brooke, and then Professor Sprout told the class to quiet down as class had begun.

"What do you guys know about this Tree-Wizard Tourasomething thing?" Brooke asked out the side of her mouth, as she uprooted some type of yellow spiked cone looking plant which she then tickled over a bowl which caused the plant to ooze a pink goo out of its pores which dripped into the bowl. She then began to replant the pink goo plant into another pot as she waited for either of the twins answers.

"The Tri-Wizard Tournament, Brooke, it's basically this competition that took place many years ago and it's always done with three different schools. No one knows what the competitions are but we know there are three and only one person from each school can partake and they have to be 17 or older," answered George, saying the last part bitterly.

"But me and George are working on finding a way around that, aren't we, George?" Fred asked.

"That's correct, Fred, we'll find a way."

"I won't doubt you, after all I know what you're capable of," Brooke said, grinning, she turned back to her plants and began to uproot them hoping not to get any of the pink goo on her robes. She went through the whole rest of the day happy it was the first day of school as teachers didn't give homework on the first day, homework started on day two. She had been unlucky enough to get a glob of pink goo on her robes and everyone kept asking if it was gum everywhere she went. When class ended in Binns with the Gryffindors and Ravenclaws all groggy and half asleep as they left, Brooke really felt like Hogwarts had begun. She walked back up to the common room where she dropped her bags off in her room then sat in front of the fire watching as the other Gryffindors came and went, she tried to figure out why she hadn't seen Fred or George yet but didn't worry about it.

When dinner rolled around Brooke stood up and walked down into the dining room, Fred and George were already present sitting at the table and holding a place for her. She walked over to them and sat down.

"Come with us after dinner, we're putting out name into the Goblet," Fred said.

"What Goblet, Fred?" Brooke asked, piling food onto her plate.

"The Goblet of Fire, people put their names into it and then the Goblet spits out of the names of the competitors for the tournament," George said.

"I thought no one under 17 could enter."

"We're not just anyone, Brooke."

"That you aren't."

They all ate their food quicker than was necessary but Brooke couldn't wait to see what happened when the twins put their name into the Goblet of Fire. She was finished first and the twins just stopped and stood up pulling Brooke with them as they walked into one of the previously empty rooms of Hogwarts but now it had benches and a big silver Goblet sitting on a stone pillar in the center. Brooke noticed Fred and George's brother, Ron, sitting on the bench next to Harry Potter and a girl the twins mentioned as Hermione who was friends with Ron and Harry. She walked over to the three and sat down next to them as Fred and George began on their plan.

"Hey, Ronnakins, how are you, handsome?" Brooke asked, kissing him on the cheek, she liked to tease him and call him cute names because it always made him blush and just as usual he blushed a bright pink.

"Good, just watching people put their names into the Goblet," answered Ron.

"Harry, Hermione, it's wonderful to see you two again, I expect you're keeping a keen eye on sweet Ronnakins here right?"

Harry and Hermione smiled and nodded; Brooke smiled back before standing up and walking back over to Fred and George as they were stalling. As she left she heard Hermione speaking to Ron.

"You turned very red there, Ron, do you like her?" Hermione asked.

"Of course not, Hermione," said Ron.

"Could have fooled me."

Brooke chuckled and continued to walk over to Fred and George, Ron was so adorable.

"What are you laughing at?" Fred asked.

"You of course, I'm trying to figure out what this stalling business is all about," said Brooke.

"We're not stalling; we just misplaced the vials in George's bag."

"Hand it over."

George put the bag into Brooke's hands; she dug around for a few minutes then pulled out two vials and handed them to the twins.

"There you are," she said.

"Much thanks, Brooke, now stand back while we work our magic," George said, and Brooke took a few steps back and watched as the twins turned to each other shouted "Bottoms up" twisted arms, drank the vials, then jumped inside the age line surrounding the Goblet. Nothing stopped them, they cheered, and Brooke clapped as they put their name into the Goblet, they began to dance around smugly again and then the fire turned bright red and spit out their papers before they began to grow long gray hair and beards. Brooke found herself laughing so hard she was bent over with tears in her eyes and trying hard to catch her breath. The boys began to tussle and she walked over them the best she could as she was still laughing and tried to pull them apart but they only pulled her to the ground and all three began to wrestle. Brooke finally pulled herself free and forced them both to stand and she was finally able to stop laughing.

"I like the new look, boys, you definitely look old enough to cross the age line now," Brooke said, chuckling a little.

"Ha, ha," Fred said sarcastically, and pulled at his beard.

"I doubt Madame Pomfrey would fix this seeing as it's self inflicted," said George.

"There's no harm in trying, come on then," Brooke said, walking them out of the room and up to the Hospital Wing. "Madame Pomfrey," Brooke called, and Madame Pomfrey walked out of her office. "Can you do anything for them?"

Madame Pomfrey looked at the boys then made a "tsk tsk" sound with her tongue before walking over to a cabinet and taking down a bottle of pink goo from her shelf.

"That isn't what I got from the cone looking plants this morning is it?" Brooke asked.

"Yes it is, Dumbledore had me have the school harvest it for this exact reason, he didn't know how many students would try this," answered Madame Pomfrey, she poured the pink goo into two cup and handed them to the boys. "Drink it all down then."

The boys looked into the goo suspiciously and Brooke made a drinking notion with her hand and they rolled their eyes, plugged their noses, then drank down the liquid. They coughed and made a sort of gagging sound but their beards and hair began to shrink until their hair was the right length and no hair from the beard was present.

"If either of you try that again I won't help you next time, now get off to your common rooms before it gets too late," Madame Pomfrey said, shooing them out. Brooke followed the boys out of the Hospital Wing, then up to Gryffindor house, and into the common room. They each took a seat on a piece of furniture and looked into the fire.

"I wished I'd gotten a picture," Brooke said, smiling. "Your mum would have loved that."

"Personally, I'm glad you didn't," Fred said.

"You would, now don't tell me you're going to try again?"

"Can't, not enough time to think up a new plan the winners are going to be chosen tomorrow night," said George.

"How terrible," Brooke said sarcastically, standing up and stretching. "Well you two I'm off to bed we're actually going to have homework tomorrow."

"Homework?" Fred asked. "What is this homework you speak of?"

"Yeah, I've never heard of it," George said.

"Ha, ha, goodnight, sweet dreams to the both of you."

"Only when you're in them, Brooke," they both said together, and Brooke stuck out her tongue at them as she walked up into the dormitories.


	5. Fever

**PART 5-FEVER**

Brooke had gotten lost, in all her years at Hogwarts, including first year, she had never gotten lost but somehow she had. The last thing she remembered was going towards Transfiguration, and then looking down to try and find where she'd stowed her wand in her bag. When she had looked up she was in a corridor she didn't recognize in the slightest. While trying to find her way out of the corridor she was sure she had gotten herself even more lost; she was now walking down a very cold corridor that seemed to run deep into the castle. She wrapped her arms around herself and continued down the corridor which was growing steadily darker since it obviously wasn't bad enough already.

Not knowing what else to do Brooke turned around and hoped retracing her steps would lead her out of the dank, dark, corridor. She fixed the straps on her backpack better, as it was slipping down her back, and when she looked up she screamed when she noticed someone in front of her. Once her eyes adjusted she noticed it was George and breathed a sigh of relief.

"George!" Brooke said, throwing her arms around him. "You have no idea how good it is to see you." she unwound herself from him and saw he was grinning. "What?"  
"You got lost," he said smugly, and Brooke folded her arms.

"There's a first for everything."

"I have a perfect sense of direction," George began mocking Brooke. "I've never gotten lost in my life and I doubt I could."

"Shut up, George," Brooke said, punching him in the arm playfully. "How did you find me anyway?"

"Do you remember the Marauder's Map?"

"Of course, you gave it to Harry."

"Well, I asked Harry to let me use it since I was somewhat worried about your lack of attending class."

"Awe, you were worried about me, how sweet."

"Would you like me to lead you out of here?"

"Please, and do you happen to know where 'here' is?"

"Well it's near where the Slytherin common room is that much I know."

Brooke shivered still cold from the corridor's freezing temperature, George looked down at her, seeing as he was quite a few inches taller than her, then wrapped an arm around her shoulders. She felt herself warm up almost instantly and for some reason she had the feeling it wasn't just because of George's body heat, and even more strangely she felt herself blush at that thought. When George turned to look at her she quickly turned away hoping he hadn't seen her flushed cheeks, she couldn't understand what was wrong with her. George was one of her best friends, why was she acting like she liked him? He was almost like a brother, they'd grow up together all their lives and here she was blushing because he wrapped an arm around her. When Brooke looked back up again she saw that they were in the entrance hall and George unwound his arm from around her.

"I've never been happier to be standing in the entrance hall," Brooke said, her thoughts back to normal now that George wasn't touching her.

"Glad to be of service," George said, bowing and Brooke giggled.

"How many classes have I missed?"

"Just first hour and right now second hour is halfway through."

"I'm curious about something, if you came to find me why didn't Fred?"

George opened his mouth to say something but then closed it again; Brooke looked at him oddly as he never had problems answering a simple question. He scratched the back of his head then went to speak again but before he could a cold voice ripped through the silence.

"Ditching class are we?" came Filch's voice, and Brooke groaned.

"I got lost," said Brooke, turning around to face Filch. "And, George, here came to find me so I wouldn't miss anymore classes."

"You expect me to believe that, ha!" Filch hobbled forward and looked between the two. "Whose class should you be in now?"

"Snape's," George said, and Filch chuckled.

"Well, we'll take you to his class then and let him give you the proper punishment, follow me, the both of you."

Brooke sighed and George fell into step beside her as they followed Filch down into the basement and into potions. When he opened the door the entire class, including Snape, turned to look at the three of them.

"I found these two wandering the halls, they said they were lost," Filch said grinning widely, Snape folded his arms.

"I allowed Mr. Weasley to go and find Ms. Cole," Snape said. "It seems Ms. Cole got lost on her way to class today and Mr. Weasley had finished his potion."

Filch's grin turned into a scowl and he turned around and walked away saying something unintelligible under his breath.

"Have a seat the both of you, Ms. Cole, I'll need to see you after class," Snape said, then turned to the board and Brooke took the empty seat by Angelina and George joined Fred. As there wasn't much of the class left, the rest went by quickly and while everyone was packing up to leave, Brooke threw her stuff in her bag and waited till they had all gone. She then approached Snape's, desk not exactly sure what he was going to do about her missing most of his class.

"It is hard for me to believe, Ms. Cole, that you got lost seeing as you have never been late once to my class," Snape said, staring hard at her.

"Shouldn't that mean it's more believable, I've never been late but because I got lost I was late this time?" Brooke asked.

"Considering you have never once missed my class and that you are maintaining a higher grade than most I will not give you a detention. However, I will allow you to come in later tonight and make up the potion you didn't do if you wish to complete it."

"Yes, I'll be back tonight, I'd really prefer my grade remain high in this class."

Snape nodded and Brooke turned around and left, having to run to make sure she'd make it to her next class. Fred and George were in almost all of her classes and they were in this one, which was Divination. She plopped down between then tossing her bag beside her as she did.

"He didn't give me detention," she said breathlessly.

"How did you manage that?" Fred asked.

"He let me off considering I've never been late and I have one of the highest grades."

"Way too much work for me," George said, and Brooke rolled her eyes.

"I can't believe he let you come find me, why do you think he believed your story at all?"

"I think he believed more that you wouldn't miss his class," said Fred.

"I will be going back later tonight to make up for missing the potion."

"You're very strange, Brooke, you actually want to do more school work."

"I want to keep my grades up unlike the two of you," Brooke chastised.

"We love school!" Fred and George said in unison, Brooke merely rolled her eyes again then turned her attention to the teacher. The rest of the day went by rather quickly and Brooke stopped off at the common room to drop her bags in her dormitory. First she went to Defense Against the Dark Arts to explain her missing the class earlier. Then she headed back to the dungeons and walked into Snape's classroom. He was sitting at his desk and Brooke walked over to him, he gave her the instructions for the potion before she went to a cauldron. She began cutting up different ingredients and hummed a song quietly as she began to make the potion. It took her a half hour but finally the potion was finished and she saw that she had done a fairly good job. She poured some into a vial and then cleaned up the potion; she walked back over to Snape and handed him the vial.

"Goodnight," Brooke said, to him and he inclined his head in return. She left the Potion's room after that and found Fred outside waiting for her.

"Fred, what are you doing here?" she asked.

"I wanted to let you know why I didn't come find you earlier," said Fred.

"Well lets walk and talk then, it's almost time for dinner."

"Alright," said Fred, and they began to walk but rather slowly from the Potion's class. "It was nothing that big really, me and George did rock, paper, scissors and he won because he was rock and I was scissors."

"That's it?" asked Brooke.

"Yeah."

"Well, if that was it, why did George find it so hard to tell me?"

"I don't know, you'll have to ask him."

Brooke looked up at Fred and saw he was refusing to look at her, as she was looking up at him she didn't realize she was getting closer to him. His finger grazed her hand and she felt a warm shiver run up her spine and immediately blushed. She couldn't believe this was happening again, twice in one day and with two different people. What was wrong with her? She couldn't understand what she was feeling and she hated that whenever this happened she couldn't think straight. Her mind got all jumbled and she lost any train of thought she had been trying to muster.

"Are you okay?" Fred asked. Brooke nodded and was relieved to see the great hall in front of her. Once she stepped inside with all the other people her mind cleared and she could think straight again.

"There's George!" Brooke said, and walked over to him with Fred behind her, she sat down between them as usual.

"How was potions?" George asked.

"Just lovely, I think I did a rather good job," said Brooke, and she saw him and Fred look at each other, what was going on with them lately? "Oh look, Dumbledore's about talk."

Brooke turned and looked up at Dumbledore, he began a long speech about the tournament then turned to the Goblet of Fire which spit out a piece of paper. Dumbledore grasped it in his hand, then shouted.

"Hogwarts' champion is……Cedric Diggory!"

"That pretty boy?" George said. "The Goblet must want Hogwarts to lose."

"Be nice," Brooke said elbowing George. Then another paper shot out and landed in Dumbledore's hand.

"Beaxbaton's champion……Fleur Delacour!" shouted Dumbledore.

"Brilliant! Now we'll be able to stare at her more," said Fred.

"Nice thinking, Fred," George said.

"You two are ridiculous," said Brooke. The last piece of paper shot out of the Goblet and landed in Dumbledore's hand once more.

"Lastly, Durmstrang's champion……Viktor Krum!" Dumbledore shouted.

"Seems a bit unfair for a big lug like that to be against pretty boy and mademoiselle Delacour," George said.

"I think we know who the champion is going to be," said Fred.

"You guys really need to get a life," Brooke said, rolling her eyes for what seemed like the millionth time that day. Just then another piece of paper shot out of the Goblet and Dumbledore took it, he read it twice.

"Harry Potter," he said and everyone's eyes shifted to Harry as he tried to hide behind Ron. "Harry Potter!"

Ron finally pushed Harry up and everyone followed him as he walked up to Dumbledore then went off the stage following the other champions.

"Maybe the Goblet's not out to get us after all," Fred said.

"Yeah, two champions are definitely better than one," said George.

"It's an unfair advantage you two," Brooke said.

"You are very correct but at least now we have a chance of winning," Fred said.

"I swear, one day you two are going to realize how difficult you are."

"One day, Brooke, but it's not going to be today," said George.

"Obviously."

"A dagger right in the heart, Brooke," Fred said grasping his chest, and once more that day Brooke rolled her eyes.


	6. The Middle

**PART 6-THE MIDDLE**

"You know the sun is shining, don't you?" Brooke asked, she had snuck into the boy's dorm when Fred and George were no shows for breakfast and lunch. She was now sitting on the bottom of Fred's bed bouncing up and down in an attempt to wake him up.

"Mmm," Fred mumbled, then pulled a pillow over his head.

"You can't sleep the day away."

Fred continued to ignore Brooke so she leaned across him to try and pry the pillow from his face. He jerked himself onto his back and Brooke ended up sprawled on top of him. Her face flushed as she realized the way she was laying on top of Fred in his bed. She didn't understand why this was awkward now, her and the boys always used to wrestle together, even sleep together when she stayed over. Now it felt wrong to be laying this close to Fred, Brooke slipped herself into a sitting position and crawled off of Fred. He was now awake and staring at her oddly.

"What?" she asked.

"Why are you blushing?" he asked.

"I'm not."

"Your cheeks are bright red."

"I'm not blushing."

"If you say so, what does it matter to you if I sleep the day away?"

"Because I'm bored out of my mind and the first task is in uhm.....an hour."

Fred jumped up and looked over at his clock.

"Bloody hell," he said. "I'll meet you in the common room once I get dressed."

"Great!"

Brooke jumped up and walked out of the boy's dorm running into George on the stairs as she did.

"There you are!" George said.

"There _you _are," said Brooke.

"What were you doing in the boy's dorm?"

"Waking up your lazy brother, I was coming for you next, be glad you're already awake."

Brooke looped her arm through George's and pulled him down into the common room and onto a couch. She laid back in the couch and closed her eyes, she had woken up too early that morning.

"Brooke?" George asked.

"Yeah, George?" Brooke replied.

"........nothing, never mind."

"Don't do that, what do you want to ask me?"

Brooke sat up and looked over at George, she hated when people did what he had just done.

"It's nothing, just forget about it," said George.

"You are frustrating," Brooke said, and laid back into the couch.

"Did you take the bets?" Fred asked as he walked down the stairs.

"That's what I was doing this morning," answered George.

"You guys didn't?" Brooke asked.

"Might as well make a profit, it's the best part of this tournament," Fred said grinning.

"Do you two have no souls?"

"Of course not, we sold them to the devil a long time ago," George said.

"Well come on then, let's get there early and get a good seat."

Brooke stood up and the twins followed her out of the common room and to the grounds. It was easy to spot the giant stadium where the first task was being held and Brooke followed the trail up to it.

"Fred, George, Brooke!" Lee called from up ahead of them on the trail.

"Hello, Lee!" Brooke called back then made her way to him. "How are you?"

"Spectacular, I was just waiting for those two sods to get here as we all agreed to sit together."

"Sods?" George asked.

"Us? asked Fred.

"Of course not, boys, he meant the other red-headed twins," said Brooke.

"Thought he did," said Fred, winking.

"Come on, there's quite a few good spots left," said Lee leading them into the stadium. They came across a front seat and Brooke sat down between the twins and Lee.

"Do we have any idea what the first task is?" Brooke asked.

"Ron told us it was dragons," Fred and George said in unison.

"Can't be, would the schools really put their students in that kind of danger?"

"Why do you think the students had to be 17 plus?" asked Lee.

"I'm glad you two didn't get in, I don't want either of you dead," Brooke said pointing at the twins.

"Do you not believe in our magical abilities?" asked Fred.

"I would, had you both attended classes more than half your time at school."

"She's got a point, mate," said Lee.

"What have you done, Brooke, you've turned our best friend against us!" George said.

"What can I say, I have a certain charm about me."

"Says you."

Brooke smacked George playfully on the arm then all the sudden everyone seemed to quiet instantly. She looked down and saw Dumbledore who began to speak about the first task. Apparently the students would have to steal a golden egg from one of four dragons, the dragon being randomly chosen by the student. He then left and the first dragon was brought in, the first person out was Cedric.

"Think he'll try to flirt with it to get to the egg?" asked Fred.

"He does seem the type," answered Lee.

"Don't tell me they've gotten to you?" Brooke asked looking at Lee.

"Look at the guy, Brooke, he's a pretty boy, I swear he wears make-up."

"You three should have been triplets."

"Must be the hair right?" asked George, and Brooke began laughing, she laughed so hard she had tears in her eyes before she could answer.

"The only similarity between your hair is that you both have some," she said, and ruffled both George and Lee's hair. "Anyway, does anybody have any idea what's going on in the tournament?"

"No, not really," said Fred.

"Brilliant, I'll have to get a play by play from Angie."

"Does that mean you aren't enjoying our distractions?" asked Lee.

"Of course not, Lee, it just means I find the tournament more entertaining than you, big difference."

"And here I thought you were implying something really mean."

"Never," Brooke said winking, then she turned her attention back to the tournament.


	7. Secret

**CHAPTER 7-SECRET**

Brooke sat against the wall watching as all the Gryffindors cheered Harry for successfully getting the golden egg from his dragon. She was sipping on a drink that had been handed to her from a random Gryffindor and wondered how much more bored she was going to be before someone talked to her. The twins were off gallivanting with Lee and probably planning something evil which meant they were nowhere to be found. Brooke sipped on her drink once more and then someone leaned against the wall next to her.

"Hey, Brooke," Angelina said smiling.

"Angie, it's been a while!" Brooke said turning to her.

"How are you?"

"Bored out of my mind actually."

"How can you be bored, it's a celebration!"

"I guess I'm just weird like that."

"Where are your sidekicks?"

"They're off scheming I'm sure."

"Fred is so cute."

Brooke spit out the sip she had just taken from her cup and coughed a few times.

"Are you alright?" Angelina asked.

"Yeah, fine, just went down the wrong tube," Brooke said, she didn't know what had come over. Why should it matter to her whether or not Angelina liked Fred? "You do know they're twins right? Therefore if you think one of them is cute then obviously the other is too."

"I prefer Fred."

Brooke forced a smile and sipped on her drink; her and Angelina talked through the rest of the party and luckily didn't bring up either Fred or George again. When everyone began to calm down and head up to bed, Brooke decided it was time to do the homework she had gotten the day before. She went up to her room and pulled her homework out of her backpack before going back into the now empty common room, she laid her books out on the table in front of her and began to look each one over. It was well into the night by the time she had finished and she rubbed her eyes trying to keep her lids from drooping so she could make it upstairs. The fire had long went out which left the common room void of its merry crackling, Brooke wished it was back on as it was cold.

"What are you still doing up?" George asked from the stairs.

"Doing homework," answered Brooke.

"Leave it to you to be worrying over homework at the beginning of the weekend."

"It leaves the weekend open for me; I don't have to worry about trying to finish it last minute."

Brooke pulled the books into her arms and walked towards the stairs where George was currently standing. She stopped in front of him and her breathing began to quicken. "What does it matter to you whether or not I do my homework at the beginning of the weekend?" she managed to think up before her mind clouded over.

"Because I don't like to see you wasting your time," said George shrugging.

"Leave it to you to see homework as a waste of time."

Brooke went to push past George and get upstairs but he wouldn't budge and she turned and looked up at him, staring deeply into his brown eyes.

"I need to go to bed," Brooke said weakly, and George moved out of the way and she walked passed him up to her dormitory where her mind finally cleared. Something was definitely going on with her, and the twins for that matter, but she wasn't exactly sure what it was yet.

*******************************

Brooke woke up the next morning still tired but she didn't feel like sleeping the day away, she sat up and got dressed and ready for the day before heading down into the common room. A few people were already in the common room talking and hanging out; Brooke grabbed a random book off the table and took it out of the common room and into the courtyard. She took one of the empty benches and laid across it cracking open the book to the first page, she wasn't exactly sure what it was about but she didn't feel like going to the library. For the first time in her life while reading a book her mind wandered, it wandered to the twins, and all the weird things she'd been feeling around them. She knew she loved them both, they were like brothers to her, or were they? It was confusing to think she could like either, or both of them, in _that_ way.

She set the book across her stomach and looked out across the empty courtyard; she wondered if she did like them both, did they like her back? Then again if she liked them both, how would she choose between them? She shook the thoughts away and pushed the book into her face trying to concentrate on the words in front of her eyes but every few lines she could spell Fred or George's name if she unscrambled them. Throwing the book down she sat up and put her head in her hands, she didn't want this, she didn't want to like her two best friends. Nothing good ever came from liking a best friend, she'd either lose one of them or both of them, that's what always happened.

Then the worse of it was the fact she liked brothers, twins, and best friends all in one. She didn't know if anybody could get any worse than that. Knowing she wasn't going to be able to concentrate on the book she stood up and dusted herself off. She picked up the book and carried it back with her into the common room and set it back where she had gotten it. After walking over to the couch she lay down across the cushions on her stomach and began to pick at the loose strings on the arm. This seemed to draw her attention away from the twins which she found very soothing, finally her mind could stop thinking, at least for the moment.


	8. With You

**CHAPTER 8-WITH YOU**

"Why are we having a class in here?" Brooke asked, she was walking into the room the Goblet had previously occupied with Lee whom she had met in the hallway. The benches were all pulled out and Brooke saw there was a mixture of fourth to seventh year students.

"I'm sure we'll learn that soon, Brooke," Lee said.

"You know I'm not patient."

"That you aren't."

Brooke nudged Lee playfully with her shoulder and they both sat down together on the bench near the other sixth years. Fred and George were standing against the wall talking to Harry, Ron and Hermione. They both spotted Brooke at the same time and winked at her, she winked back then Professor McGonagall walked into the room.

"Quiet down, class," McGonagall said, and the room instantly silenced. "Now, class, it is customary during a tri-wizard tournament to hold a Yule Ball. I do expect you all to treat this event seriously and put your best foot forward, and I mean this literally, because the Yule Ball is first and foremost….a dance."

Brooke chuckled under her breath as she remembered what Bailey had said when they arrived at Hogwarts. She noticed Lee looking at her oddly.

"It's an inside joke," Brooke said.

"Obviously," Lee replied.

McGonagall pointed at Filch who was standing next to an old phonograph, he turned it on and a soft melodic song began playing.

"Do you dance?" Brooke asked Lee.

"No," answered Lee.

"Not even a little?"

"No."

Brooke laughed then turned back to McGonagall to see she was now dancing with Ron.

"How did that happened?" asked Brooke.

"I don't know, you were talking to me, remember?" Lee replied sarcastically, and Brooke nudged him with her shoulder again. McGonagall sent Ron back to his seat and Brooke had never seen him look so grateful.

"Now, boys and girls come together," McGonagall said. Brooke stood up and reached down pulling Lee with her onto the dance floor with him fighting her all the way.

"Brooke, stop, Brooke, I don't dance!" Lee complained.

"Stop whining," Brooke said, and then took Lee's hand and placed it on her hip then put her arm around his neck before slipping her other hand into Lee's free hand.

"You know how to dance?"  
"What girl doesn't?"

Lee looked around the room and Brooke followed his gaze where most of the girls were leading the boys on the dance floor.

"You have a point," he said.

"Of course I do," Brooke said grinning.

"I wonder when the dance is taking place."

"Probably soon, they wouldn't be preparing us if it was too far away."

"Very nice, Ms. Cole," Professor McGonagall said nodding at her before going to Angelina and saying the same thing.

"I feel special," Brooke said.

"You should, you were about the sixth person she complemented," said Lee.

"Here, let me show you another way to dance as well."

Brooke picked up Lee's arm and wrapped them around her waist before stepping closer to him and wrapping her arms around his neck.

"This one is the one you use when you want to get close to your date," Brooke said, laughing.

"Date?" Lee said groaning. "We're going to have find dates for this dance!"  
"Generally that's what you do when there is dance, yes."

"Alright, that's enough for today students," said Professor McGonagall, and Brooke backed away from Lee. She felt someone watching her and turned to see George looking between her and Lee with the strangest look on his face, when he noticed her looking he quickly looked away.

***********************

"Brooke! Brooke!" Angelina said, practically running to Brooke and jumping up and down at the same time.

"What? What?!" Brooke asked, returning the excitement.

"Fred asked me to the Yule Ball!" Angelina cried happily, and Brooke didn't even have to fake being happy, she couldn't when Angelina was this excited.

"That is amazing, Angie!"

"I can't believe he asked me, I never thought he would!"  
Angelina practically fell onto the couch next to Brooke, and Brooke set her homework aside.

"When did he ask you?"

"While we were taking a potions test."

"Leave it to Fred to ask you during a test."

"It was definitely worth it."

Brooke smiled and wrapped Angelina in a hug.

"At least you have a date, definitely one up on me," Brooke said laughing.

"Don't you worry, Brooke, you _will_ get a date," said Angelina. "There's no way a guy would be crazy enough not to ask you."

"We'll see."

Lee came into the common room a minute later holding a box in his hands; he walked over to Brooke and handed it to her.

"I was up sending off a letter and an owl dumped this on me," Lee said, and Brooke took the package and saw it was from her parents. "I don't know how it knew I would get it to you."

"If it was my owl she knows you," Brooke said taking the package. "Thanks, Lee."

Lee turned around to go up the stairs and Brooke began to open the package pulling down the paper that was keeping whatever was inside safe.

"Brooke?" Lee asked, and Brooke turned and saw him on the stairs.

"Yeah, Lee?" asked Brooke.

"You wouldn't want to go to the dance with me, would you?"

"Are you kidding me?! I'd love to, Lee!"

"Really?"  
"Yes."

"Great, okay, alright."  
Lee cleared his throat then walked up the stairs and Brooke squealed happily.

"I don't have to go alone now!" she said, and Angelina laughed.

Told you you'd get a date."  
"I'll never doubt you again."

Brooke returned to her package and opened it up; she looked inside and saw something gold. She pulled it out and saw it was a golden sleeveless dress; it was made of silk and looked as if it would go past her feet.

"My parents got me a dress!" Brooke exclaimed, she looked into the box and pulled out a pair of matching shoes as well. "My mom's always had better taste than me."

"Looks like we're both set for the dance," said Angelina.

"Thankfully."

Brooke put the dress back into the box before standing up and taking it into her dormitory.


	9. Dance, Dance

**CHAPTER 9-DANCE, DANCE**

Brooke rushed around all that night getting opinions on how she looked from almost every Gryffindor she could hunt down. She had already tried five different hairstyle and three different eye shadows but she couldn't find one she liked. Finally Angelina sat her down and did her hair and make-up for her and Brooke loved it, without question. She slipped on her gold heels last, not wanting to be in them any longer then she had to, then she walked down into the common room. Lee was talking with Fred and George and Brooke had to admit that he cleaned up nice.

He had his hair slicked back into a small ponytail and his black robes looked dashing on him.

"Why, don't you clean up nice," Brooke said, approaching him and the twins.

"I'd say the same but I always think you look nice," said Lee, and the twins made gagging noises.

"Are you ready to go?"

"Yes."

Lee held out his arm and Brooke took it waving goodbye to the twins as her and Lee left the common room.

"I know it's kind of silly but I got you something," said Lee, reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a clear box with a corsage of yellow roses dressed up in gold.

"Lee, it's beautiful!" Brooke said, she held out her hand and Lee slipped the corsage over her wrist. "I knew there was more than one reason for agreeing to be your date."

"That's what I like to hear."

Brooke looped her arm through Lee's and they headed back down to the entrance hall then entered into the great hall. The tables had all been removed and a band was playing on the stage where the teachers usually sat. No one was dancing yet and Brooke figured it was because the Yule Ball hadn't yet started. She walked with Lee to a table and sat down next to him. Fred and Angelina arrived a few moments later followed by George and Katie, they all sat down next to Brooke and Lee, and Brooke began conversing with each. After a while the whole hall silenced and Brooke turned to see why, Dumbledore was standing on the stage directing the tri-wizard champions onto the dance floor with their dates.

"Hermione and Krum?" Brooke asked shocked.

"Yeah, you should have seen Ron when he found out," Fred said chuckling. Brooke flicked his ear.

"Be nice."

After a few moments other couples began flocking to the dance floor and to her immense surprise Lee pulled her to the dance floor. The song was at a fast pace so her and Lee just danced close together laughing. When a slow song came on Lee took her waist and hand like she had taught him and they danced back and forth. The song ended and they went to get some punch, Fred and George and their dates were at the punch table and Brooke walked over to them.

"Having fun?" she asked.

"Tons," said George, and Katie rolled her eyes. Brooke took the punch Lee offered her and sipped on it.

"You wouldn't mind if I asked Katie to dance, would you?" Lee whispered.

"Of course not," said Brooke. Lee walked over to Katie and they ended up on the dance floor dancing to a fast song. Fred and Angelina went next and Brooke ended up by George.

"Why did you come with Lee?" asked George.

"Cause he asked me," Brooke answered.

"That's the only reason?"

"Yep, we both got dates and we're friends so it made it easier."

A slow song began to play and Brooke heard George take a deep breath.

"Would you like to dance?" he asked.

"I would," answered Brooke, setting her drink down. George took her hand and guided her out onto the dance floor, she didn't know why but she wrapped her arms around his neck and George wrapped his arms around his waist. Her whole thing about this dance was it was to be used when wanting to get close to your date. Did she want to be close to George? She ended up drawing closer to him and resting her head against his chest, she liked the feeling of being in his arms. When the song ended she wished it hadn't, she didn't want to move but she did. When she looked up at George she began to feel warm and her thoughts clouded over again.

"I think I need some air," she said, and George walked with her outside to the courtyard. She looked up at the sky and felt herself begin to cool off, this feeling she had when she was around Fred and George was getting old, fast.

"Are you feeling better?" asked George.

"Yeah, lots."

"Brooke," George stepped closer to Brooke and turned her face up to look at his. "Did I tell you that I think you look beautiful tonight?"

"No....don't think mentioned it," Brooke said, clearly not speaking correctly.

"I never knew how gold flattered you and I've known you all my life."

"It happens."

"But I do know that white is your favorite color, cinnamon is your favorite smell, for some odd reason B is your favorite letter and Tuesday is your favorite day."

"They are?"

George smiled and then cupped Brooke's face in his hands before pressing his lips to hers and she lost her breath. She wrapped her arms around George and gripped his shirt in her hands. Then she realized what she was doing, she was kissing her best friend, hadn't she sworn not to do this? She released George and backed away from him.

"I'm sorry, I just, I can't," Brooke said, and a tear glistened down her cheek. She ran from George into the school and headed straight for Gryffindor common room. Before she got there though she saw Fred in the hallway.

"Brooke, are you okay?" he asked, rushing forward. Brooke broke down into tears and ran to Fred hugging him tightly; Fred was always there when she needed him.

"I'm fine, I just need a minute," Brooke said, she stopped the tears and then released Fred.

"What happened?"

"Nothing, I'm fine."

Fred reached out and wiped away the tears from Brooke's eyes.

"Come on, I'll take you to the common room," said Fred. He wrapped and arm around Brooke's shoulders and led her into the common room and onto one of the couches. She sat next to him on the couch and leaned against his shoulder, he kept an arm around her comfortingly and Brooke looked up at him and smiled.

"Where's Angelina?" she asked.

"Still at the dance," answered Fred.

"Why aren't you?"

"I didn't see a reason to stay anymore."

"Why not?"

"Cause you weren't there."

Brooke stopped smiling but before she had a chance to do much more Fred had pressed his lips to her softly giving her the opportunity to kiss back or pull away. She didn't understand why but she leaned into Fred kissing him a little rougher; she wrapped her arms around his neck and lay against him. Her thoughts were all jumbled; she didn't know what was wrong with her. Twice in one night she had been kissed and twice in one night she'd kissed back; twice in one night she kissed brother and twice in one night she knew she shouldn't have. She pulled herself from Fred and stood up.

"Fred, I can't do this, everything is wrong, this isn't what was supposed to happen," Brooke said randomly, she couldn't quite form a proper or completed thought in her head. "I have to go."

Brooke ran up the stairs and into her dormitory where she fell face forward onto her bed and wept nonstop into her pillow.


	10. Before I Forget

**PART 10-BEFORE I FORGET**

Brooke woke up the following morning hoping last night had been a very strange dream. That hope was squashed however as she sat up and saw she was wearing her gold dress and could feel the make-up on her skin. She fell face-forward in bed and put her head in a pillow letting out a well needed muffled scream. The other girls were gone, which was good considering the scream hadn't been completely muffled. Brooke then fell over on her back and tried to figure out what she was thinking last night.

She'd been ambushed by both Fred and George but instead of feeling trapped she had kissed them both right back. Had she just let them kiss her and stood there like a statue this whole mess would be over with. Instead she'd kissed them back, both of them, on the same exact night. She really didn't want to leave the dormitory but she knew if she didn't there would be a search party out looking for her and she wouldn't be able to explain why she was still in bed and still in her gold dress. Using every ounce of strength she could muster she drug herself out of bed and got ready for the day. She pulled her hair back in a ponytail and gladly took off all her excessive make-up, then she walked down into the common room.

It was empty which was rare but a look at the clock showed everyone would be eating lunch right about now. Brooke figured lunch would be a good meal to avoid, then suddenly she remember that she had planned on going home for Christmas. What better time to leave then right at that moment. Brooke ran up to her dorm and quickly began to pack the few things she wanted to bring home. Then she sent an owl to her parents telling them to expect her, before pulling her luggage out of Hogwarts and into Hogsmeade.

She found the train and slipped inside setting her luggage beside her; she sat back in the seat and hoped this little break would help clear her head. Brooke didn't know how long she was sitting on the train but she finally heard it whistle and then move forward. She had already seen the scenery various times and spent the entire trip working on homework. The concentration the homework took kept her mind off of Fred and George. She knew the train ride would be long and it would be dark before she got home and she'd be done with her homework long before that time.

When the world grew dark and the lanterns sprung to life across the compartments her homework had been completed and her mind began to drift. She could see Fred and George's faces, when they were young, when they got older, the look when they pranked, or found something funny. The look they had given her last night was something completely on its own, it wasn't lust or like, that look, it was love. Fred and George Weasley were in love with her and they had picked a bad time to let her know. The Yule Ball where she had gone with Lee, George had gone with Angelina and Fred with Alicia. Brooke couldn't help but think of how Angelina and Alicia would take the news if they found out.

She knew how much Angelina cared about George and if she found out Brooke had kissed George, Brooke was more than positive she'd have one less friend. Alicia on the other hand, Brooke wasn't sure if she and Lee may have hit it off better than her and Fred but if it was the former, once again one more friend would be gone. What would happen if she denied both Fred and George, would they stop being her friends as well? If they went so would Lee, he was the twin's best friend after all. Brooke had really gotten herself into a bad situation, which she wouldn't have done had the twins not kissed her.

She felt the train slow down and was glad to get out of her head.

When the train stopped she jumped up and grabbed her things, pulling them with her as she stepped onto the platform. She saw her dad waiting for her and walked over to him, putting on a smile.

"Hi, dad," Brooke said, hugging him the best she could with bags in her hands.

"Hey, Brooke," said Sean, taking her bags from her and smiling as he led her out to the car. He put her things in the back and she got into the passenger seat. The drive home was silent which made trying not to think very hard. She turned on the radio and let it take her mind off of school. When they got home Brooke walked inside and her dad got her bags and took them up to her room.

"Brooke!" Sherri said, coming from the kitchen and wrapping her arms around her.

"Hey, mum," said Brooke, hugging her mum tightly.

"Why did you decide to come home earlier than you planned, dear?"

"I missed you guys, even Bailey."

Sherri pulled back and tucked Brooke's hair behind her ears.

"Good try, dear, now tell me the real reason."

"I don't really want to talk about it right now."

Sherri sighed and nodded; Brooke kissed her on the cheek then walked up to her room. She crawled into her bed and forced her eyes shut; she didn't want to think anymore, all she wanted to do was sleep.


	11. Who Knew?

**PART 11-WHO KNEW?**

"Brookey," Bailey said, hovering over Brooke as she lay in bed. Brooke groaned and looked up at her rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"Hey, it's rare I get to see you anymore," said Brooke.

"Mum is suspicious of your reasons for coming home."

"I know."

"And I know this is going to sound very unlike me but if you want to talk, I'll listen."

Brooke sat up in bed and laid her head against the headboard, for once Bailey looked serious and almost concerned.

"You'll really listen?" Brooke said. "You won't joke or make fun of me; you won't go shout it to the world?"

"Despite it all, Brooke, we are sisters and we're supposed to be there for each other."

"You're going to be mad at me."

"Wow, you must have done something really bad."

Brooke put her head in her hands and then pulled back her hair and looked up at Bailey.

"I kissed Fred _and_ George at the Yule Ball," said Brooke. Bailey's mouth literally fell open.

"You can't be serious?" she asked.

"Dead serious, but I didn't start it, they kissed me first and I sort of kissed them both back."

"What were you thinking?!"

"I told you you were going to be mad at me."

"Alright, I'm sorry," Bailey said, then cleared her throat. "Explain."

"I don't really understand it all myself, I was at the Yule Ball and I was dancing with George and I felt a little light headed. George took me out to get some air and he told me how beautiful I looked," Brooke said, looking down. "Then without warning, he just kissed me and I just….I couldn't stop myself, I kissed him back."

"What happened then?"

"I told him I couldn't and then I ran away into the school."

"When did Fred come in?" Bailey asked, she was leaning forward against the bed as if she was listening to a dramatic story and was dying to know the end.

"I met him in the hallway on my way to Gryffindor tower, I was crying and he comforted me. We went inside and sat down on the couch and I finally calmed down, he then told me he left the dance brcause I wasn't there. Then he kissed me and once again I found myself kissing him. I told him too that it wasn't right, I couldn't do it, and then I ran to bed and fell asleep."

"Whoa, you really dug yourself into a hole there, Brooke."

"Aren't you supposed to comfort me?"

Bailey patted Brooke on the back a few times and Brooke glared at her; Bailey leaned forward and hugged Brooke and Brooke hugged her back without hesitation.

"I just don't know what to do," Brooke whined. "I can't go back to school, not with Fred and George and Angelina and Katie and Lee."

"You can't just stay home and avoid it, avoiding things never helped anyone," said Bailey.

"What do I do, what do I say? I don't even know where to begin."

"Do you like Fred?"

"Yes."

"Do you like George?"

"Yes."

"Do you want to be more than friends with one or both of them?"

"…….yes."

Bailey pulled back from Brooke and took her hand.

"You can't have both, Brooke," said Bailey.

"I know, but how do I choose, especially now that I know they both have feelings for me?" Brooke asked.

"All you can do is decide which one you like more and if you can't…..then maybe you shouldn't choose either."

Brooke's eyes grew big at that thought, she couldn't not choose one if she did she'd lose both of them.

"I don't want to lose them," said Brooke, her eyes tearing up.

"If you don't choose one you may end up losing both of them anyway," Bailey said, wiping away Brooke's tears.

"How did you get so smart?"

"Us Coles get smarter with every girl, Bridget will probably reach genius status."

Brooke laughed and hugged Bailey once more.

"Thank you for listening," Brooke said, rubbing Bailey's back. "It feels like a real sister moment."

"It's really sad that I'm actually enjoying it," said Bailey. "Don't think I'll be treating you this good all the time."

"I never even conjured that thought."

Bailey laughed then slipped off Brooke's bed and left her to be in peace. Brooke lay back in her bed and turned on her side, on her nightstand was a picture of her and the twins. It was taken at the end of last year right in front of the Hogwarts express. She picked it up and looked at both Fred and George's faces; she wondered if they had liked her then or if they had just recently begun to have feelings for her. As she laid there staring at their picture she suddenly realized something. She had liked them both since the beginning of the year. All the times they had been alone together and then they'd touch her and her head would fog up. It had been happening for a long time and she just didn't understand what it had meant.

"What have I gotten myself into?" Brooke said to no one. She sat up and got showered and dressed before walking down the stairs and when she got to the kitchen she heard her mum and Bailey talking.

"Why is she here?" Sherri asked.

"I don't know, she didn't tell me," Bailey answered.

"You're lying, you were up there in her room for a good half hour."

"Yes, I was trying to get her to tell me but she didn't and finally I gave up."

"Why won't either of you tell me what happened?"

"Because it's none of your business!" Bailey exclaimed, sounding like she had slammed a pan on the stove. "It's Brooke's story to tell and she will tell it when she feels comfortable."

Bailey then stormed out of the kitchen and stomped up the stairs not noticing Brooke standing by the kitchen door. Brooke took a moment then walked inside and saw her mum cooking.

"Morning, mum," Brooke said, she went over to the high chair and picked Bridget up in her arms. She kissed her cheek and Bridget giggled and grabbed at her hair, Brooke smiled and kissed her on the forehead before setting her back down in the high chair. Sherri had finished the food and Brooke took some and cut it up and set it on Bridget's high chair. Then Brooke took some food for herself and sat down at the table and begun eating. Sherri sat down as well and began to eat, after a few minutes of silence she set her fork down.

"Why did you come home?" Sherri asked, and Brooke sighed.

"I don't want to talk about it," answered Brooke, she took another bite of her food but Sherri was persistent.

"I deserve to know."

"I. Don't. Want. To. Talk. About. It."

"Honey, I'm here for you, you can tell me anything."

"I know!" Brooke said, standing up. "But I don't want to talk about it!"

Brooke then left and stomped up the stairs exactly how Bailey had. She couldn't understand why her mum just wouldn't let her be.


	12. Ruin

**PART 12-RUIN**

Brooke wasn't looking forward to going back to Hogwarts, every day seem to go by twice as fast as the day before and soon enough the day had arrived. She packed her bags, took the drive to Kingscross Station, and her and Bailey got onto the Hogsmeade Express together. Bailey didn't have anyone to talk with this time around so she stayed in the same compartment as Brooke. Brooke spent most of the time staring idly out of the window and biting her nails.

"You're making me feel uncomfortable," Bailey said, shifting in her seat.

"Why?" Brooke asked, turning to look at her.

"Because you're uncomfortable."

"I'm sorry, I just, I don't know what to do!"

"Worrying about it isn't going to help you."

Brooke took a deep breath and tried to make her stomach stop feeling so knotted.

"I'm going to take a walk," Brooke said, and stood up. Bailey nodded and Brooke left the compartment and began to walk along the hallway. She passed people going from one compartment to the other and the woman with the food cart. Brooke's stomach was anything but hungry and she passed the woman by and made it all the way to the end of the hallway before turning around and starting to go the other way. She wasn't really thinking of anything but her feet on the floor and not running into anyone. That was the way she wanted it, she didn't even realize when her stomach began to feel better, she was too busy concentrating on her feet.

When the lanterns sprung to life they frightened her and she jumped, her heart beat rapidly in her chest and she tried to calm herself down. She walked back to her compartment and saw Bailey sleeping on the bench; Brooke took the other seat and crossed her legs, bobbing the one on top nervously. The horn blew startling Bailey out of her sleep; she sat up rubbing her eyes.

"Are we almost there?" Bailey asked.

"Yeah, we're slowing down," said Brooke, and Bailey yawned and stretched. Brooke watched the scenery slow down outside the window and began biting at her nails again. The train then stopped at Hogsmeade station and Brooke stayed sitting.

"Come on, Brooke, it's nighttime, everyone will probably be sleeping," Bailey said, and Brooke nodded. She stood up and followed Bailey outside and towards the carriages. They slipped into one together and Brooke grew more and more nervous as the looming form of Hogwarts grew closer.

"Remember out talk, Brooke," Bailey said, patting her on the knee.

"I could lose possibly all of my friends, all of them!" Brooke said. "All I can think about is Katie and Angelina never speaking to me again. Then Fred and George? I couldn't live without them, it would be like losing you, I couldn't lose you."

Bailey wrapped an arm around Brooke's shoulders and Brooke laid her head on top of Bailey's. They sat like that until the carriage stopped and Brooke grudgingly slid out and Bailey followed her.

"Just go up to your dorm and go to sleep," Bailey said. "It will give you one more night to think."

Brooke nodded and she and Bailey parted at the door and Brooke went straight to Gryffindor common room. She walked inside and went to sneak up to the girl's dormitory.

"Why didn't you tell us you were going home?" Fred's voice said. Brooke froze and turned around seeing Fred sitting on the couch in front of the fireplace reading a book.

"Are you….reading?" Brooke asked, trying not to appear flustered.

"It's for Transfiguration, it's due tomorrow."

"Oh."  
Fred set his book aside then stood up and walked over to her.

"I feel like I should apologize," Fred said, and looked up into Brooke's eyes which wasn't a good idea. Looking him in the eye made it all the more difficult to remain in control of her emotions.

"For what?" Brooke asked, though she already knew the answer.

"I shouldn't have kissed you like that."

"Oh, that," Brooke said, tucking her hair behind her ears.

"That's why you left isn't it?" Fred asked.

"Do you have any idea what situation you put me? Do you?" Brooke asked, throwing her hands in the air. "Not only did you put my friendship with Angelina in jeopardy, George also may have ruined my friendship with Katie! And Lee, Lee is both you and George's best friend, I could lose him, I could lose both of you! I've been going crazy trying to figure out what I'm supposed to do but I can't think straight, I can't think."

Fred looked at Brooke like she had grown another head and she stared at him confused.

"What?" she asked.

"Did George, did he kiss you too?" Fred asked, and the color drained from Brooke's face. She hadn't thought about what she was saying and even if she had she would have figured Fred knew about George and George knew about Fred. "He did." Brooke tried to shake her head no but Fred held up his hand. "I didn't know he felt the same."

Fred walked up to the boy's dormitory and Brooke put her head in her hands, she had no idea what she had just started.


	13. Down

_ Wow, so I'm am freakin' sorry about taking so darn long! Firstly I was at Florida for a week visiting the lovely Disneyworld for my birthday, while there my computer totally crashed on me! The Geek Squad had it for three weeks where they figured out the hard drive crashed, I had to order recovery discs, and then I got sick, twice. All while moving into a new house so I've had a pretty ghastly last few weeks. Gah. Anywho, I am finally managing to update so I hope you guys enjoy and sorry again about the long wait. ;)_  
_~Fluffy_

**PART 13-DOWN**

If Brooke hadn't wanted to get up the day before, she doubly didn't want to get up the following morning. Her slip to Fred last night was only going to end badly and she really didn't want to be there to see that happen. Maybe if she stayed in the same position long enough on her bed she would sink into it and disappear forever. That was her first choice. Second choice was forcing herself out of her bed and facing the oncoming disaster with a bit of dignity.

Personally she would have preferred the latter but it seemed anymore she didn't get what she wanted. Well, in truth, she did get what she wanted but the price was very, very, very high. The loss of possibly five friends being said price. Option two stood however and Brooke pulled herself out of bed and quickly got ready for the day. She walked out of the dorm and was immediately met with the sounds of an argument.

When she drew closer she saw it was Fred and George. Brooke turned around with such agility she wouldn't have been surprised if she had done so in a blink on an eye. Obviously though it wasn't quick enough and she heard the boys call her name. She froze, then forced herself to turn and walk down to them.

"Brooke," George said, and Brooke swallowed loudly. "Fred swears it was second year when we pranked Flich by replacing Mrs. Norris with that male look-a-like cat. I think it was third year, well, I _know_ it was third year. You have to remember what year it was cause you cast that spell to make Mr. Norris' eyes red."

Brooke almost let her mouth fall open, which would have been a clear indicator of how shocked she was. She was expecting something completely different than what George had asked her. Right now he and Fred were having a very Weasley brother fight, which they often did when it came to old pranks.

"Earth to Brooke," Fred said, waving his hand in front of her eyes.

"I was thinking," Brooke said, swatting his hand away. Then she really did think about the prank. "It was third year cause Ron had just started school here."

"Ha! Told you it was third year!" George stated smugly. Fred rolled his eyes and Brooke found herself smiling. They were bantering playfully like they always had; maybe they had thought things over and decided on a truce. Since they both liked Brooke neither one would try to kiss her again. That sounded really great to Brooke. Fred patted George on the back to show he didn't have any hard feelings.

"I have to go find Lee, he wanted to know the year too," Fred said, then left the common room. Brooke folded her arms across her chest and then George turned around to look at her.

"Why did you leave?" George asked, the sparkle in his eyes gone. Brooke was getting tired of this question; both of them were making her feel like she was the one who was in the wrong.

"What did you expect me to do?" Brooke asked.

"I expected you to stay, to tell me what I did wrong."

George stepped closer to Brooke and took her hand.

"What were you thinking, George?" Brooke asked, wanting to pull her hand away but not being able to. "We were friends, best friends, then you kissed me and now how are we supposed to go back to how we were?"

"Why would we have to?" George asked. "Don't you like me?"

"I do but Fred, he feels the same way too, and I like him like I like you and that's not right."

"What do you mean Fred feels the same way I do?"

"Well kissing me too might have been a clue."

George dropped Brooke's hand and she looked up at him oddly.

"Fred kissed you?" George asked. This time Brooke's mouth fell open, she thought Fred would have told him.

"I thought….he…when we talked last night, I told him…you," Brooke tried to say, but she couldn't form a coherent thought.

"You talked to him last night?"

Brooke just nodded, not being able to speak. George shook his head then left the common room looking very angry. Brooke stomped angrily and almost pulled her hair out. She was really not that good at keeping a secret and now she had told George something she shouldn't have. If only they'd talk to each other, settle this whole thing, then they could all go back to being friends. Brooke didn't like this, she didn't like having to worry about what she said or worrying that she was going to lose everyone she cared about. Why did Fred and George have to kiss her?

She couldn't talk to any of her friends, especially Angelina and Katie. The only person she could talk to was Bailey and there really wasn't much more she could say to her.

"Brooke, are you okay?" she heard someone ask her. Brooke turned around and saw Angelina.

"I'm fine," Brooke lied, straightening out her hair. "Just…dancing…..I'll talk to you later, Ang!"  
Brooke turned around and quickly left the common room, after slipping twice to Fred and George she was afraid she'd slip to Angelina to. She knew her class would start soon so she headed towards it, hopefully it would take her mind off Fred and George. At least till the end of the day. As she had hoped her classes kept her thoughts from wandering and she didn't think about Fred and George the whole time. When school was over her mind was still filled with what she'd learned and she happily skipped into the common room. Once again she heard an argument and once again it was Fred and George but this time she could tell it wasn't banter.

They were yelling at each and the looks on their faces about broke Brooke's heart. She'd never seen the twins look at each other like they hated each other before. The thing that saddened her was because she knew it was her fault, it was because she existed. Had she never been in the world none of this would have happened, the twins would have had no one to fight over.

"Why did you do it, Fred?" George shouted. "Because I told you I liked her you had to go and snog her!"

"You knew I liked her before you ever mentioned anything to me about your liking her, I told you I was attracted to her last year!" Fred shouted back.

"But you never did anything about it and I wasn't about to wait around until you did!"

Brooke couldn't take listening to them argue, they had never argued like that before, she could feel the tears streaming down her face. She could hear her own sobs and wondered why the boys hadn't yet. Not looking up she ran past the twins as fast as she could and before they could object got into the girl's dormitory where they couldn't get to her. She fell back against the wall and pulled her legs up to her resting her head between her knees. There she began to cry even harder, she couldn't do anything, there was no way telling them that she didn't like either of them was going to fix things now. Not after the way they had fought, that was something that no one could get over easily.

The only way to make sure she had at least one of them was to choose one. In her head it sounded so easy just pick one and then her best friend would also be her boyfriend. She knew it wasn't that easy though and had no idea how she was going to do it or when she'd even have the strength to. How could she break one of their hearts? She'd never forgive herself if she did but that was what she'd have to do in the end.


	14. Hangin' On

_So, hopefully good news for you folks! Love Comes In Pairs now has a banner! –SQUEE- Just go on over to my profile and the link is there under 'updates' I hope you guys like! I make all my own banners so let me know what you guys think. ^^ So I only have one chapter left that is all written up. Eeek! Now I have to start writing again. Considering we are coming towards the end, hopefully it should not be too long between updates. -crosses fingers- Now onto the story!_

_~Fluffy_

_. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ._

**PART 14-HANGIN' ON**

Brooke had kept herself pretty covert all day; she was in and out of class first and never lingered in the hallways. This kept her from running into Fred and George before she had time to think. As she sat in History of Magic a paper flew over to her desk. She opened it and saw dancing words written across it.

_I'm not giving up on you._

_G_

Brooke looked down various times at the dancing letters reading them over so many times they began to blend together. After everything she'd done she never thought the twins would still want to fight for her. G had to be for George, Brooke was pretty sure she didn't have any other secret admirers and she really didn't need any. She folded the letter up and slipped it into her bag, it had been rather sweet of George to make it for her. Once her classes had ended for the day Brooke packed up her things and headed for the common room.

On her way there she noticed there was a portrait following her. Not the portrait itself but the person who was in another portrait kept jumping from portrait to portrait following her. It was a he and he was dressed in what looked like a farmer's outfit, when Brooke couldn't take it anymore she stopped.

"Why are you following me?" Brooke asked. The man stopped in the portrait of a young boy flying a kite.

"I'm supposed to deliver a message to some Gryffindor girl, I was going to sneak in when you opened the portrait hole," the man answered.

"Why are you telling me, shouldn't you lie or something?"

"I figured you could tell this girl for me."

"Fine, what's her name?"

"Brooke Cole."

"That's me," Brooke said surprised.

"Great, makes my job easier," the man said. "Fred Weasley would like it very much if you would meet him in the courtyard before dinner."

"Why did he send you?"

"He opens doors for me, I owed him."

"Sounds like Fred, thank you for giving me the message."

Brooke waved at the man and he jumped through the portraits until he was gone. She turned around and walked back down the hallway until she reached the portrait hole. After telling the Fat Lady the password Brooke walked inside and up to her dorm, all the way there she contemplated whether to meet Fred or not. She threw her bag on her bed and sat down herself; she pulled the letter from George out and read over it again. There wasn't much too it, only six words but it made her feel wanted every time she read it. She never heard the person walk into the dormitory as she looked down at the dancing words.

"Could you not stand to see them with anyone else, Brooke?" a voice asked. Brooke looked up to meet Angelina's eyes.

"What?" Brooke asked.

"Were you jealous that they wanted to be with someone else and not spend all their time with you?"

"Ang, I don't understand what you're talking about," Brooke said, she folded up the letter and slipped it into the bag.

"The whole house knows about what's going on with you, Fred, and George. They made it clear enough with the argument they had last night," Angelina said, her eyes were teary but she was clearly angry.

"You don't understand anything, Ang, if you heard their fight then you know it's not all my fault."

"You didn't have to snog them both."

Brooke went a bright shade of pink; she couldn't believe the twins would have argued about that in front of the whole house.

"Didn't think I'd find out about that, huh?" Angelina asked, wiping at a tear angrily. "Well, I did, Brooke, and I can't believe you would do this to me, I thought we were friends."

"We are friends, Ang!" Brooke cried.

"You have a funny way of showing it!" Angelina yelled. "I don't want you to speak to me; don't try to make up for what you did because as of right now we are no longer friends."

Angelina spun on her heels and stomped out of the girl's dormitory, Brooke felt herself beginning to sob and forcefully pulled the curtains around her bed. She threw herself under the covers and pushed her face into the pillow. The day had started out so well, she thought she could fix everything by ignoring it. Instead she had made everything worst, Fred and George didn't deserve what she was doing to them. She wasn't good enough for either of them, not after what she did. A sob escaped Brooke's mouth and she pushed her head farther into the pillow.

She wasn't going to meet Fred in the courtyard, he deserved better than her and so did George. Last night she had decided to choose one of them and now she decided to choose neither of them. Everything would be easier that way.  
Angelina could have Fred and George could find some girl that was much better than Brooke. She continued crying well into the night and only stopped when the other girls came in to go to bed. Brooke closed her sore eyes and tried to force herself to go to sleep, but the girl's whispers stopped that. She breathed in and out slowly so it wouldn't block out their whispers.

"What do you want to do, Ang?" that voice sounded like Katie's.

"I don't want to do anything cruel," Angelina's voice said." After all Brooke was a good friend for a long time."

"Okay, then what is it you want to do?"

"I don't want any of the girls in Gryffindor to talk to her, the boys too but I doubt they'll be as easily persuaded as the girls."

"Done deal for the girls, I'll see what I can do about the boys."

"Hopefully this will make her understand that what she did was wrong; she hurt a lot of people."

"Including me," another voice said, one Brooke didn't recognize.

"Licia, has anyone seen Brooke?" Angelina asked.

"No, she must be hiding out somewhere," the voice now fit Alicia Spinnet. "I still don't think that's a fitting punishment, Angie."

"It will do for now, come on let's get to bed."

Brooke heard the girls all move around, pulling at covers and curtains and soon everyone had settled in. Now that Brooke had overheard the girl's conversation she felt even worse than before. She really wasn't looking forward to the silent treatment from the entire house. Sighing Brooke rolled onto her back and stared up at the ceiling, she had the feeling she wouldn't be getting much sleep.


	15. Solitary

_Okay, so totally uncool of me to leave you guys without an update for this long. I suck! I've been trying to work on another story of mine that was neglected and in the process neglected this one. This story is almost over so I'm going to try and write up the last few chapters so I get it finished and stop leaving you guys in suspense. Hope this tides you over while I do! Thanks for the patience. ^^_

_~Fluffy_

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**CHAPTER 15-SOLITARY**

Brooke woke up the following morning with the feeling she was supposed to be dreading something. As she became more and more alert what she had been dreading came back to her. Everyone in Gryffindor was meant to start ignoring her. Brooke rolled over in bed and knew she needed to get up; she slid out from under the covers and picked out a clean pair of clothes. She took her time getting ready and then grabbed her bag, after taking a deep breath she walked down the stairs. There were people scattered across the common room and not one head turned to acknowledge her presence. She walked out of the common room and started towards her first class.

As she walked down the hallways she began to notice that people would stop talking when she walked by but still wouldn't look at her. She pulled her arms around herself and continued walking, keeping her head down. When she arrived at the door to her first class she followed a few other students inside and took a seat at an empty table. As more and more people arrived, they made sure not to sit by her and she tried not to show that it bothered her. She sat with her arms crossed on the desk and looked at the board. As the day progressed things didn't get much easier for Brooke, even Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs were unfriendly towards her.

At lunch people shoved in around her at the table and pretended she didn't exist. Bumping into her rudely and reaching over her to grab at the food. Brooke left without finishing her lunch and randomly walked the halls to pass the time. She waved at the portrait that had delivered Fred's message and he waved back. At least portraits weren't petty.

Brooke didn't have much luck in the rest of her classes; it was odd how Angelina and Katie had gotten the other houses involved. Why would they really care about what Brooke had done? When classes were over for the day Brooke avoided the common room and headed out to the grounds. There were fewer people outside than inside. She walked over to the Black Lake and sat down on the grass, leaning forward and peering at her reflection in the water. She looked the same as she always did, same hair, same eyes, same face, but something was missing.

Frowning down at her reflection she realized why she felt something was off. She rarely saw herself looking down or depressed or without a smile; she felt hollow. Sighing Brooke rose to her knees and leaned over the lake, where she dipped her fingers into the water. Watching as it rippled out from her touch. Suddenly hands pushed at her back and she fell face forward into the water. She sucked in copious amounts of water as she fought her way to the surface.

When she broke the top of the water she spluttered and gasped for air. She felt water cough out of her lungs and finally managed to catch her breath. The water was freezing and she shivered, holding her arms tightly around herself. She looked up to find the culprit but they were gone, she held back tears as she swam to the side of the water and pulled herself out. She lay on her back catching her breath and taking deep breaths to try and calm her crying, which didn't really matter now considering she was soaking wet and no one would be able to tell. Her teeth were chattering and she could feel a shiver wrack her body and now and again.

Maybe she could just leave school and be home taught for the rest of the year or maybe she could switch schools. Anything sounded better than staying here and facing the aftermath of what she had done. She then heard footsteps and turned, seeing Bailey walking out towards her and Brooke held back a sob.

"Brooke," said Bailey, running the rest of the way to her. She got onto her knees and pulled the jacket off of her, wrapping it around Brooke. "What happened? You're pale and your lips are blue!"

"S..someone, p..pushed me ih..in," Brooke said, teeth chattering.

"Come on, get up, we need to get you to Madame Pomfrey."

Bailey helped Brooke to a sitting position and then helped her stand. Brooke put a lot of weight on Bailey but she held her up well as they walked into the castle together and to the hospital wing. Madame Pomfrey came out to greet them right away and forced Brooke into a bed where she used a spell to dry her clothes. Bailey stood off the side, watching and Brooke could tell she was concerned. Madame Pomfrey worked her magic on Brooke, warming her with a spell and tucking various blankets around her. It didn't take long for Brooke to warm up, slowly her teeth stopped chattering, she stopped shaking, and her body warmed.

"What happened?" Madame Pomfrey asked.

"I accidentally

fell into the lake," Brooke replied.

"Bollocks! Someone pushed her in," Bailey added, glaring at Brooke.

"Did you see who?" asked Madame Pomfrey.

"No, I didn't," Brooke answered.

"Do you know why someone would do this?"

"Currently my entire house has a vendetta against me, ma'am."

"Do I want to know?"

"No."

"Well, alright, I'd like to keep you overnight just in case, you'll probably miss your first few classes so the other Ms. Cole should try to get your homework for you."

"I'll get right on top of that," Bailey said.

"Let me know if you need anything, Ms. Cole," Madame Pomfrey said, and then she left, heading into her office. Brooke let out a groan and rammed her head back against the pillow, frustrated.

"You don't need a concussion too, Brooke," Bailey said.

"This is all so ridiculous, Bails, I understand anger but someone trying to hurt me? That's just completely nuts!" Brooke cried.

"Any thoughts on who?"

"I don't know, Ang has almost all the houses involved, except Slytherin, they could care less."

"I'm sorry, I don't know how to help you."

"I don't think you can, I need to fix this on my own."

"Yeah, cause that's going great so far."

"Just don't tell mom about this," said Brooke. "She'll go crazy."

"Fine," Bailey replied. "Watch out for those jealous girls though, don't stand near hazardous areas, no walking along balconies or near dragons or something."

"Believe me, I will be on my toes."

"I better go, I got a year's worth of homework to do and not long to do it."

"Okay, I'll probably see you tomorrow."

Bailey nodded and then walked out of the hospital wing; Brooke heaved a deep sigh and looked up at the ceiling. At least no one would bug her while she was in here, not with Madame Pomfrey being omniscient with all the people under her care. Brooke decided to take the chance of being left alone and sleep, she doubted she would get much once she returned to her dorm.


	16. Funny Valentine

_Again, I feel so bad for not updating in like what four freakin' months? -_- Seriously I have 'some' good excuses but also bad excuses so I'll make none and just say that I am updating now? And this chapter is longer than usual, I think, so maybe that's something? No, yes? :P I hope you like it cause it was being EXTREMELY difficult and wanting to make me not write it at all. So, yeah enjoy and all that! Oh and P.S. total coinkydink how it's arounds Valentine's Day when I update cause this chapter is Valentine-y!_

_~Fluffy_

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**CHAPTER 16-FUNNY VALENTINE**

When Brooke woke up the following morning she knew it was because something had woke her up, not because she had been ready to get up. She blinked her eyes a few times and then realized she had woken up because she felt someone watching her. Turning to her left she saw Lee sitting in a chair next to her bed, he was reading a book but she saw him look up and notice that she was awake.

"Morning, sleepyhead," Lee said, closing his book and setting it on the nightstand. "This is quite the predicament you've put yourself in."

"No kidding," said Brooke, sitting up in her bed.

"Every girl pretty much despises you."

"Sounds about right."

"You'll be happy to know that me, Fred, and George, and all the male species that pretty much could care less about petty female issues, are on your side. All it took was for Fred and George to tell their side of the story for us to realize that they created this whole problem and put you in the middle. Of course trying to explain that to any girl is near impossible; we're going to keep trying anyway though."

"Thanks, Lee, that really means a lot."  
"The twins really care about you, Brooke," Lee said, scooting closer to the bed. "You'll be happy to know that they have realized that fighting over you is rubbish, they've decided to

band together and try to win you over instead. No more fighting, no more jealousy, they know that the choice is yours and they're going to leave it to you."

"But I'd still be hurting the one I don't pick," said Brooke.

"They know that, which is why they aren't going to fight anymore, even though one of them won't have you he'll still have the other person that means the most to him in the world."

"Can things ever really be that easy?"

"If you want them to be."

"There's nothing I want more."

"Good, cause the twins have separate plans for you today."

"Why?"

"It's the 14th of February."

"And?" asked Brooke.

"Do you have any female genes? It's Valentine's Day!" Lee said, throwing his hands in the air.

"Wonderful."

"Might want to gussy up, I'll see you back at the common room."

Lee stood up, winked at Brooke, and then left and Brooke looked around, wondering if she could leave or if Madame Pomfrey would descend on her. She sat up and then stepped out of the bed; she walked all the way to the door and wasn't stopped. Brooke then continued on, making it back to the common room, it was already second hour and Brooke decided she might as well wait till her third class of the day started. She walked into her room and began to get ready, taking her time as she didn't need to rush. It wasn't right for her to feel excited about the prospect of Fred and George doing something special for her.

After all, hadn't she just decided she wasn't good enough for either of them? She kept contradicting herself and she hated feeling so helpless but it was the twins, she would have nothing without them. Even though she wanted nothing more in the world than to just walk away from this crazy mess she couldn't, she was the mess now. She finished getting dressed and looked over herself in the mirror making sure she looked nice. Then she grabbed her bag and headed out to her third hour class, which was Transfiguration. As soon as she got near the door students began pouring out of their classes heading to their next hour. Brooke slipped into Transfiguration not minding that she was early.

She slid into a desk and set her bag next to her, finding that she was smiling. Then suddenly someone was sitting next to her and she turned to see George, she didn't share Transfiguration with him so his appearance startled her.

"George," Brooke said, grinning stupidly.

"Did Lee talk to you?" asked George, he looked worried.

"Yes, this morning."

George seemed to relax and he smiled.

"After a very competitive game of rock, paper, scissors with Fred I won the right to woo you first," George said winking and Brooke chuckled but sighed and got serious, deciding to ask one last question of the resistance she felt.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" she asked.

"Do what?"

"To fight for me, I'm not worth it."

"Do you really think that, Brooke?"

"How could I be worth your relationship with Fred? You are brothers and I'm just a girl."

You're much more than that," George said, reaching forward and taking Brooke's hand. "Brooke, you are perfectly imperfect, you do these little things that make me just want to stop and stare. The way you play with your hair in class when you're trying to think of an answer or tug at your ear when you tell a little white lie. You can be so completely oblivious and it's the cutest thing when it isn't frustrating. And you're funny and witty and can banter with the best of them and I consider me and Fred to be in that category. It's not even that you are beautiful because there's no doubt that you are. You put up with me, Brooke, you accept me and you encourage the craziness that is my dream, to have a joke shop. You've never tried to change me or talk me out of doing what I want most and I know that you never will because you are you."

Brooke felt her eyes tearing up; no one had ever said such nice things about her, she never realized that anyone had ever paid that much attention.  
"How am I supposed to turn you down now?" Brooke said, only half joking.

"You can't," George replied, winking before standing up. "Meet me at the Fat Lady after your last class."

Brooke nodded and George squeezed her hand and then turned and left the room, leaving Brooke to think over all the nice things he had said. Would she ever be able to say the certain things about George that she liked in the same way he had about her? It was perfect, every single word, ever single emotion he displayed, George Weasley _loved_ her. There was no other feeling she could deduce but love. She spent her remaining classes doodling on most of the worksheets she had been given and giving the teachers only half of her attention.

At least half of her attention was good enough as they didn't single her out for not fully listening. She was curious what George was planning to do for his chance at wooing her, as he had put it. The twins were surprisingly creative and she probably couldn't even imagine what they could do, as she often didn't when it came to their pranks. By the time her last class had ended she had packed up her things quickly and left before anyone else, eager to get to the Fat Lady. She tried to keep her pace slow as running would probably make her seem suspicious, especially if she ran into Filch. Instead she speed walked up to the portrait of the Fat Lady, trying not to look like she was antsy, even though she was.

When she walked up to the portrait she didn't see George but she had gone surprisingly quickly and he was probably still working his way up to the portrait. Brooke decided to run up to the girl's dormitory and drop off her bag, she took the stairs two at a time and slipped her bag onto her bed. When she turned around she saw Angelina standing behind her but lately she had been ignoring Brooke so Brooke tried to sidestep around her but she stopped her.

"I heard you were in the hospital wing," said Angelina.

"Yes, I was," Brooke replied, wondering where this was going.

"What happened?"

"I fell into the lake."

"That's not what Bailey says."

"Ugh, Bailey needs to keep her big mouth shut."

"Did someone push you?" Angelina asked, and she seemed genuinely concerned.

"I think so, I mean, I didn't actually see anyone," answered Brooke.

"I never wanted to have you physically hurt by this, Brooke; I just wanted you to feel the same emotional pain that I felt when I realized you had stolen Fred."

"I didn't steal anyone; obviously Fred had feelings for me before he asked you to the Yule Ball. If he hadn't acted on them before you started getting serious who knows what would have happened between you two. Would you really have wanted to fall in love with him if he still liked me? Would you really have wanted to be the girl he settled for?"

"It wouldn't have always been that way, once we started going out he would have realized that I was perfect for him."

"How do you know that?"

"How do you know that it wouldn't be?"

"Because my version has already begun."

"There was one guy in this whole school that I really liked, Brooke," said Angelina, crossing her arms. "And he likes you, how are we supposed to be friends after something like that?"

"I would happily accept you as a friend again, Ang, even after all of this," Brooke replied. "You have to decide whether you could still be friends with me."

"I don't have an answer."

"Let me know when you do."

Brooke then walked around Angelina and headed back downstairs and to the portrait hole, when she climbed out she saw George waiting for her and smiled. Even though she had just had a conversation with Angelina that possibly meant their friendship was unsalvageable it couldn't seem to damper her spirit. She had already been through enough with Angelina to let something else bug her on this day.

"There you are," said George. "I was starting to get a little worried."

"Sorry," said Brooke. "Got caught for a moment in the girl's dormitory."

"Any hair pulling?"

"No, nothing like that."

"Good, then follow me."

George held out his and Brooke stepped forward and slipped her hand into his and walked alongside him. They descended the stairs down towards the Great Hall but instead of going outside George led her to a staircase she had never been down before. They continued down a hallway and then stopped in front of a portrait of a bowl of fruit.

"Will we be admiring food instead of eating it?" asked Brooke, and George chuckled and leaned forward and tickled the pear in the bowl of fruit. After a moment the pear turned into a door knob that George turned and it opened up into a room. George went in first and then had Brooke follow him inside. It only took her a moment to realize that this was the Hogwarts kitchen; it looked similar to the Great Hall with four long tables and Brooke turned to George.

"It's better not to ask," said George, leading her over to a fireplace that had two high back chairs in front of it and one tall round table in between them. Brooke took a seat in one of the chairs and George took the one across from her.

"I was not expecting this; I thought maybe a picnic or just a walk around the grounds or something. This is definitely a surprise but not a bad surprise," said Brooke, clarifying she wasn't bothered by it. "I never really thought about the inner workings of the castle."

"Well for some reason me and Fred are alike and during our rock, paper, scissors we also added that whoever won got to take you here," said George, putting his hands together and pretending to crack them as he pushed his arms outwards.

"Your rock, paper, scissors skills are quite impressive. Then again, I would be more impressed if I didn't know that Fred always tends to pick rock first, which I'm sure you know."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

George smiled mischievously and Brooke laughed, she saw a house elf approach them and he talked with George for a moment and then left.

"That's Robble, he's a good friend of mine," said George. "Always has delicious treats for me when I come down here."

"So, I am to understand that in all our years of friendship, having obviously known about this place a while, this is the first time you decided to show it to me?" asked Brooke, teasing.

"I was always hoping to show it to you like this, on a date."

"How long have you been conceiving a date plan with me?"

"Since the beginning of this year, I never really thought about being in a relationship with you but then last year Fred told me that he liked you as more than a friend. It made me realize that I did too but Fred never told you how he felt and then he started flirting with Anglina so I thought he had lost interest. That's when I decided that I wanted to be with you, to be in a relationship with you. I had thought of so many ways to tell you but I wasn't sure my feelings would be returned and then you went to the Yule Ball with Lee. Seeing you with someone else, it made me realize how much I wanted to be with you. I shouldn't have kissed you like I did, I hadn't planned it but you looked so beautiful and I couldn't help it.

"I know me and Fred started all of this and neither of us have been considerate enough to ask you what you want. Do you even really want to be here? Do you really want to be in a relationship with either of us? Or are you just doing this for our sakes because I know you are selfless that way."

"If I was selfless I wouldn't have hurt Angelina and Katie by taking you away from them."

"You didn't take us away from anyone, Brooke," said George, taking her hand in his. "Even if you hadn't kissed me back that night I wouldn't have gone on another date with Katie. I would have kept trying to be with you, I don't know about Fred but I'm sure he feels the same. Stop blaming yourself for what we did."

"At first I wanted things to go back to the way they were," said Brooke, and George nodded solemnly. "Now I can't imagine things being like they were, I can't picture myself just being friends with you. Picturing my future with no Weasley twin at my side hurts, it's a future I don't want. If you boys are really willing to do as you say then I want a chance to decide who I really like."

George smiled so wide that Brooke thought his face was going to be permanently stuck that way and she couldn't help but smile too. He leaned forward and cupped her face, running his thumb across her cheek. Then Robble came back and George told him of what food items he would like and Brooke sighed contently, things were beginning to look up after all.


	17. Valentine's Day

_I didn't mean to take this long to update but it's been a hectic last few months for me! This is a fairly long chapter though so I hope that somewhat makes up for it. :P I hope you guys like it! Enjoy. _

_~Fluffy_

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**CHAPTER 17-VALENTINE'S DAY**

George left Brooke standing before the Great Hall and kissed her on the cheek before walking up the stairs. He told her Fred was going to meeting her there so Brooke watched George walk up the stairs and waited patiently for Fred. George had stuffed her full of both their favorite foods and desserts before they ended up reminiscing about old pranks and fun times they'd had together. It was difficult to find memories of just her and George together without Fred but they managed to remember a few, which happened to include a few of Brooke's favorite memories. It was a fun date and Brooke was content as she waited for Fred to take her on his.

After a few minutes Fred came down the stairs and beamed a smile at Brooke that she fully returned. He came up beside her and wrapped his arm around her waist and began to lead her outside. Brooke found it a little odd how he had taken her waist but figured he had used to do it before and was just slipping into an old routine. They stepped onto the grounds and Fred led her around, watching as the sun made its way towards the mountains.

"I hope just a walk around the grounds is okay," said Fred, and Brooke just smiled.

"It's fine, Fred," said Brooke. "This is nice, I don't think I've watched the sun set since we got stuck out in the forbidden forest in fourth year."

"Oh yeah!" Fred laughed. "We went out there looking for an ingredient for one of our food pranks. Then on our way out Filch started patrolling the ground after a student told him he saw us out here. He kept looking for us for a few hours while we were up in one of the trees trying to hide behind the limbs."

"Eventually he went back into the castle but we stayed long enough to finish watching the sun set."

"That was the night that I realized my feelings for you had changed, there you were about to get in huge trouble for being out in the forbidden forest at night and you didn't care. You were laughing and joking and you were just watching the sunset with this little smile on your face. It kind of changed the way I did things with you from then on, I was afraid you'd find out before I had time to sort things out."

"I never knew, Fred, not until this year."

"When it was kind of sprung on you in the worst way, I'm sorry about how it happened but I'm not sorry I kissed you."

"I was at first," Brooke said. "There were these days when I would be around you or George and forget anything my mind was trying to conceive. It was like I got all jumbled when I ended up alone with you and I didn't understand what it meant. I think at some point I would have figured it out but by then it could have been too late. The friends I lose because of what happened is hard, friends I'd had since my first year here, but I know that I'll still have you and George when this is over. You guys have, and will always be, the most important people in my life; I couldn't stand to lose you."

Fred turned and smiled at Brooke and leaned forward to kiss her but Brooke turned her head so his lips landed on her cheek.

"Fred, that's not what I'm here to do right now," Brooke said. "It would be wrong for me to kiss you."

"Didn't you kiss George?" asked Fred.

"No, he didn't try and neither did I."

"Oh."

Fred blushed and then cleared his throat and looked like he was having a hard time trying to find something to say.

"I'm sorry," Fred said.

"It's okay," Brooke replied, resting a hand against his cheek and nodding. "I can understand why you might have thought that. For now though, I'm not going to do anything like that, it would be wrong of me. We're trying to go about this the right way and that's not the right way."

"Won't happen again, promise."

Brooke smiled and then dropped her hand into his and they continued their walk across the grounds. There were a few people out, with it being Valentine's Day most of the people were couples. The sun was settling across the sky, drawer nearer and nearer to setting. Fred began to get on the topic of a new prank him and George had been working on and wanted to get her opinion on whether she thought it was a good idea.

"I mean all it does is cause a fever," Fred said. "The side effects don't happen every time and a fever is easy compared to our puking pastils."

"And the side effects are?" asked Brooke.

"Well, depending on how high your fever goes it could cause you to faint or get nauseous. Sometimes they work the wrong way and your temperature drops so you're actually cold but really, it's not so bad."

"Who experienced these symptoms?"

"Me and George, Lee did once but I don't think it will happen again."

Fred scratched his head in a diversion kind of way and Brooke turned and looked at him.

"What happened to Lee?" Brooke asked.

"He, uh," Fred replied. "He lost all his hair."

"What? How is that even a symptom for creating a fever?"

"We're not sure but it hasn't happened again."

"I think you should work a little bit more on this one."

"That's what George thinks, it's hard to keep these things from the students here. Not being able to help them out of skipping school just really breaks my heart."

"Yeah, that's definitely terrible thing."

Brooke rolled her eyes sarcastically and Fred bumped her with his arm. She bumped him back and then they got into who could bump the other one harder and knock them further away. Brooke managed to get in a particularly hard bump causing Fred to fumble and then he hit a rock with his steadying foot and ended up falling onto his butt with an _umpth_. Though she tried to stop it, fits of giggles bubbled up from her throat and she tried to cover them with her hand. That was when Fred reached up and snagged her wrist dragging her down next to him where he attacked her ribs with his hands, tickling her. Brooke was laughing out loud now, begging Fred to stop and trying to catch her breath as his assault on her ribs continued.

"Do you give up?" Fred said and Brooke attempted several times to say yes while gasping but Fred did stop and she continued to laugh anyway, falling onto her back. She could hear Fred laughing too as he fell down beside her and after a few moments their laughter stopped as they looked up at the sky and saw the sun was just setting. Brooke could still picture them hiding in the trees laughing about how dense Filch was no to be able to find them. Just like now they had gone silent as the sun set, just watching how beautiful it looked as it disappeared behind the mountains.

"We should probably head in, unless we want a repeat with Filch," Fred said and Brooke nodded. He stood up and grabbed her hand, helping her to her feet and kept her hand is his as they followed the flow of students into the castle. They headed up the stairs and to the Fat Lady; Fred said the password and the two stepped inside to see it bustling with people. Everyone was talking and laughing, eating heart shaped boxes of chocolate and cuddling stuffed animals to their chest. George was talking to Lee and Brooke noticed that Lee had wearing an awful lot of hats lately and finally understood why. When George went to touch his hat Lee slapped his hand away and George started laughing. Brooke and Fred walked up to them and George turned, beaming a smile at Brooke.

"Lee, I love the hat," said Brooke and Lee turned to Fred and smacked the side of his head.

"You told her, didn't you?" asked Lee.

"Yeah but what if I hadn't?" Fred said, rubbing his head.

"You still deserved it."

"I'd have to agree," Brooke added and Lee gave her a high five.

"You've always been my favorite," Lee said, winking at her and then he noticed a girl who entered the common room and headed off towards her.

"What's that about?" asked Brooke.

"Amanda Billings," George replied. "She asked Lee out last weekend."

"She asked him out?"

"Yep, it was really funny, Fred be Amanda."

Fred walked up to George with his hands on his waist.

"Hey, Manda," George said, failing to catch Lee's voice or mannerisms at all.

"Lee, you're going to go out with me," Fred said, his attempt at sounding like a girl failing greatly. "If you break up with me before Valentine's Day I'll slip a love potion to you somehow and make you fall in love with Ramilda Vane."

"Uhm, okay."

"Good."

Fred then turned on his heels and walked away with his nose in the air. They were right that the story itself was pretty funny but Brooke was gasping from laughing so hard because they failed terribly at their parts. Both of them could never be actors, ever, or liars, if they acted that bad they definitely didn't have a good poker face.

"Are you going to pass out?" asked Fred and Brooke held her hand out and shook her head.

"No," she managed to say. "You...are...bad actors."

"Awe, Brooke, that hurts," George replied.

"The truth hurts."

"I think we should leave, Fred, Brooke doesn't appreciate us."

"Good idea, George," Fred said, they stuck their noses in the air and then walked away and Brooke started laughing even harder as she watched them go. It was nice to see them together, playing out a scene and not fighting. Brooke didn't realize just how amazing the twins were when they were on the same side, together they were a whole and apart they were half a person. She finally managed to stop laughing and then looked around wondering where the twins had gone off to but with all the people in the room she couldn't find them. Seeing as most of the girls were still giving her dirty looks she decided to head up to the girl's dorm for a little while. She walked up the stairs and into her room, when she reached her bed she pulled her curtain back and an _awwwwwwwe_ escaped her lips.

Sitting on her mattress were two very similar baskets. One was green, which was Fred's favorite color, and one was yellow, George's favorite color. The green basket had a heart shaped box of chocolates and a brown teddy bear and the yellow basket had the same heart shaped box of chocolates but had a white teddy bear instead. Brooke took both of the bears and hugged them to her, smiling. She then put both bears on her bed and set her baskets by her nightstand.

"That's just like you, Brooke, indecisive and wanting two boys in your bed," Alicia said and Brooke saw her taking her shoes off as she was sitting on her bed.

"I'm not going to do this," said Brooke. "I'm not going to fight with you."

"The guilty need no argument."

Brooke ignored Alicia and sat down on her bed and pulled her own shoes from her feet.

"You didn't learn anything did you?" asked Alicia. "No matter what we do you're just going to sit there and continued to string Fred and George along. You are the worst kind of person, Brooke, not even a dip in the lake made you realize that."

"Leave me-" Brooke started to say but then that last line made her stop. "Did...did you push me into the lake?"

"Someone had to show you that you can't hurt people without any consequences."

"What you did was worst than anything I did!"

Brooke stood up, angry now.

"You could have physically hurt me, Alicia!" Brooke cried. "It was freezing out there and the lake was like ice. Can you imagine if I had hit my head or got so shocked by the cold that I couldn't swim? At least what I did didn't have the prospect of killing you!"

"W-well, yeah, you," Alicia faltered. "You should just give up; none of the girls are going to be friends with you anyway."

"So what? Girls backstab, they're petty, and while all the guys could care less about any of this, the girls blew it all out of proportion. I don't need any of you, Alicia, I have friends, the guys are my friends. If you try to hurt me again I will tell Fred and George and Lee and then we'll see who has the most pull here, the guys or the girls."

Alicia stormed out of the dorm and Brooke fell down onto her bed fuming, annoyed that Alicia could be so cruel. What stake did she really have in any of this? The people who were hurt the most were Angelina and Katie as they had been who the twins asked to the Yule Ball. Brooke fell back on her bed and the two teddy bears ended up on either side of her head. It was exactly how Brooke felt, caught between Fred and George and the boys and girls.


	18. Torn Between Two Lovers

_Okay so this song right here, Torn Between Two Lovers, LISTEN TO IT! Mary MacGregor has an amazing voice and the chorus was a great inspiration for this story. From the start I had this chapter, with this title; all planned out and couldn't wait to get to it. Also, again, wow long wait but let's get over that and move on. Here's a new chapter! Hope you enjoy. I can see the end on the horizon._

_PS. Upon completion on this this chapter I didn't like it so I changed the ending and I still don't know if I like it but I am not wanting to fight this chapter's attempts to NOT be written so I'm just gonna go with it and post it. Let me know what you guys think and if it's alright, yes? :) _

_~Fluffy_

_. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ._

**CHAPTER 18-TORN BETWEEN TWO LOVERS**

_torn between two lovers_

_feeling like a fool_

_loving you both_

_is breaking all the rules_

Brooke woke up Monday morning actually feeling ready for the day for the first time in months. Even though the girls were still giving her a hard time, she had gotten over it and moved on; there was no point in dwelling on it. She was bubbly as she got ready for the day and was surprised when she saw Bailey come into her dorm and sit down on her bed.

"What. The. Hell," said Bailey.

"What?" Brooke asked, too surprised to even tell her to watch her language.

"So apparently third years aren't privileged to the same gossip as everyone else and I just recently learned that you went on two separate dates with a certain set of Weasley twins."

"It was barely two days ago and I haven't seen you."

"I'm not invisible or on the other side of the castle, Brookey, this is big! How was it, did they both do good?"

"Absolutely, Bails, they both gave me such a perfect day, it's actually made me forget this whole girl vendetta against me."

"It must have been good to ignore that the all the girls dislike you and one even pushed you into the lake."

"Thanks for reminding me."

"Only here to help."

Brooke leaned back against the headboard of her bed and Bailey leaned back so her head was on Brooke's knee and she was looking up at her upside down.

"Any luck deciding which one you like more?" asked Bailey.

"I thought I would but I just keep envisioning me telling one of them and then I can just see the light die in the other's eyes. Bailey, I can see their heart break like they're in front of an x-ray machine," said Brooke. "Things are good right now but it can't go on like this."

"They gave you the choice to pick one of them, consequences aside, it's going to hurt but in the end it will all work out."

"I really want to believe that."

"I'm only 13, Brooke, and I can't tell you what to do or even begin to understand what you're going through but when friendship is torn it usually can't be repaired, at least not to where it was. You have to put things right before your relationship with the twins can't be fixed, you can't worry about hurting one of them, if you do nothing you'll hurt them both."

"How do you knowingly and willingly hurt someone so much?"

"By bringing someone else substantial joy."

Brooke leaned down and kissed Bailey on the forehead.

"Thanks, Bails, you've been the best through all of this," said Brooke. "I know we've fought but when I really needed you, you've been here for me."

"I'll always be here when you need me, sis," Bailey said, standing up. "But don't expect me to stop teasing you anytime soon."

"Wouldn't dream of it."

Bailey winked at Brooke and then left her dorm and Brooke thought over everything that Bailey had said and knew she had a good point. She was going to hurt either Fred or George in the worst way but then in the same way she was going to make the other extremely happy. It was a win/lose situation but she just wished the lose didn't have such terrible repercussions. She stood up and walked out of her dorm and into the common room. There were people walking around and talking, stuffing their bags with books and finishing up last minute homework. It was like any other day that Brooke had ever had, if she squinted it was like she was back in first year, walking through the common room with Fred and George on each side of her, giving her strength.

She was surprised when she saw some of the girls looking at her and some even smiling and Brooke wondered what had happened. It was only a few and it was mainly ones that Brooke didn't know personally.

"I've told everyone to stop," said Angelina, standing next to Brooke with her arms folded. "I told them that I was overreacting and that what we were doing was too harsh. Some of them agreed but someone of them still have their own opinion on everything and still don't like you."  
"I bet I know who the new ringleader is," said Brooke, sighing. "Thanks, Ang, I know I hurt you and I really appreciate you sort of forgiving me or at least not being vengeful anymore."

"It took you getting pushed in the lake for me to realize that what I started was really childish, I don't want you to get hurt again because of me."

"I don't blame you for that, Ang, you're not the one who pushed me in."

"How do you know?"

Brooke opened her mouth to reply and then quickly shut it, realizing Angelina had been trying to get out of her who pushed her in the lake.

"You know who did it," said Angelina. "Who was it, Brooke?"

"Come on, Ang, I don't want to start something else," said Brooke.

"Well, now I know it was someone you know, I'll figure it out."

"It's over now, there's no point dragging it back up."

"That person could have really hurt you, I can't just let them get away with it."

"She won't try it again, just let it go, I did."

Angelina sighed but let the matter drop.

"I miss our friendship," said Angelina.

"I miss _you_," Brooke said.

"I told you that I didn't know if we could be friends but I think we could again, just not until all of this with Fred and George is settled."

"Okay, Ang, if that's what you want."

"It is, it was nice talking to you like this again."

"It was."

Angelina turned and left and Brooke watched her go, surprised that Angelina was willing to be friends with her again. She never thought Angelina would forgive her that much and it really brought her happiness. It would be time for classes soon and Brooke decided to grab some breakfast, she was genuinely hungry, which wasn't something she had been for the last few weeks. She walked out of the dorm and down the stairs until she reached the main floor, when she stepped in the great hall it was like immediate noise reached her ears. Everyone was talking, their voices higher as they attempted to speak over the other. Brooke had actually missed this, she had been so caught up in her problems that everything else had been background noise. She saw Lee sitting near the edge and walked over to him happily, glad to have someone to eat with.

"Lee!" Brooke said, plopping down next to him and noticing he was still wearing a hat.

"Brooke," Lee said, grinning. "You seem chipper this morning."

"It's a good day, I see you're still waiting for your hair to grow back."

"The twins are working on something to speed up the process but I don't know if I'll trust it."

"You're right to be suspicious."

Brooke put some food onto her plate and began to eat, watching the yellow yolk of her egg spill over the sides of her toast.

"How's the decision making going?" Lee asked, sipping on a glass of chocolate milk.

"Still lots of thinking going on," Brooke replied.

"Any hints you can give me?"

"Course not, Lee, can't have you running your mouth."

Brooke pushed him playfully with her shoulder and finished the last bite of her egg laden toast before standing up and Lee stood with her.

"What class do you have first?" he asked, pulling down his hat self consciously.

"Charms," Brooke answered.

"I'm off to Trelawney, don't be too jealous."

"I'm absolutely green with envy; I'll see you in History of Magic later."

Brooke waved Lee goodbye and went to grab her bag before heading off to her first class. Her high spirits lasted her throughout the entire day and she made it through her classes without getting in trouble. Except in History of Magic when Lee told her a joke and she couldn't help the giggles that forced their way from her mouth. Professor Binns was very patient though and had just given her a warning. After all her classes had ended for the day, Brooke decided she needed a bit of alone time to think. She walked up to her dorm and curled up in her bed, pulling out the memory book she had continually added to since she was young.

It included pictures of her family and friends and copious amounts of the twins. She flicked through the book, recalling all the things she'd done with the boys throughout the years. Holidays, sleepovers, pranks, ditching, and just general troublemaking. Brooke thought back through the years, each picture bringing a memory back to her. The twins were always there for her, always the same, doing everything a boy should for a girl but there were slight differences. Fred tended to be decisive, telling Brooke what she had to do and pushing her more to do things when she didn't want to do them.

George was freer, doing what Brooke wanted and always trying to be helpful and understand why she didn't want to do something. Neither one was bad but they were just different, it was odd to think how the twin's personalities varied, they were so alike in every other way. She thought back to the dates she had had with the twins the day before and she knew George had basically let Brooke decide how things went between them, while Fred had been expecting more. It had always been that way between them and Brooke knew which personality she preferred, which twin treated her the way she preffered and gave her everything she wanted. Brooke didn't need a reality check or to have someone keep her in line, she just needed to be loved and for that love to be shown freely.

She knew which twin she wanted to be with, the one who meshed with her personality better. In the end it all came down to who had always treated her just a little bit more to her liking, there was nothing else to decide between, her feelings for them both were too equal to decide that way. She came to the last page in her memory book and saw the photo of the previous Christmas and the presents she had gotten. Brooke was holding up a gold necklace with an emerald gem, nesting inside a twisting dragon. The box it had come in was unmarked and Brooke never knew who had gotten it for her but it had been exactly what she wanted since she had seen it in the store. She smiled as she looked at it and then it hit her suddenly that she had been with the twins when she saw the necklace.

Or more so the group of necklaces, each with different dragons, gems, and lengths. Brooke hadn't said a word about wanting one, just stared a minute before moving on and a certain twin had randomly asked what Brooke's favorite dragon was, while the other talked about moving on to the Quidditch shop. It hit Brooke instantly that he had gotten her the necklace, the dragon picked was her favorite and no one else knew that Brooke had been looking at the necklaces. She felt a warmth inside her stomach at realizing that he had been so observant that he had picked her perfect present by watching her and asking her one question. Brooke touched her picture and then closed the book and pulled the necklace from the velvet case it had been in and clipped it around her neck. She knew the necklace wasn't cheap and wore it scarcely as she was always afraid she'd lose it.

Which was something else that came to her mind, how had he afforded to buy her such a pricey trinket? She headed out of her dorm and entered the common room, it was time for Brooke to make her choice and she knew which twin was meant for her, without a doubt.


	19. Figure It Out

_So, because I made you wait so long for the last chapter, here's a new one already! It's short, yes, but the one I believe everyone has been waiting for. I couldn't leave you guys on a cliffhanger for long. I didn't want to drag this chapter out; it's short and sweet and gets to the point. There has already been enough drama and it's time for it to be done. I hope you guys enjoy!_

_~Fluffy_

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

**CHAPTER 19-FIGURE IT OUT**

Brooke walked up into the boy's dorm and into the room where she knew the twin's beds were. When she stepped inside she saw Fred sitting on the floor, mashing something in a mortar and whistling. Brooke took a deep breath and walked towards him, kneeling down beside him and looking into the mortar.

"What are you making?" she asked.

"Not sure yet, it's a work in progress," Fred replied, stopping his mashing and Brooke smiled at him before taking his hand in hers and looking up into his eyes. She opened her mouth to speak but Fred covered her mouth with his hand.

"I know," said Fred.

"What?" Brooke asked.

"I know what you're about to say to me."

"How can you possibly know what I'm about to say?"

"It's all over your face, Brooke, and there have been other hints the last few weeks. I just want you to know that it's okay, George is a lucky guy."

"Fred-"

"You don't have to say anything."

"I want to, please," Brooke said and Fred nodded. "It's not that I don't care about you, I'll always care about you and I want you to know that I want to be friends. I don't know if you can still be friends with me after all this but if you can then I really want to."

"I'll get back to you on that."

"How did you really know?"

"George took every small, meager, cheap job he could find to save up the money for that necklace. He didn't know that I knew what he was saving for but I'm not blind."

"I'm sorry, Fred."

Brooke kissed Fred's cheek softly and stood up, not being able to look into his eyes anymore. She couldn't bear to hear the defeat in his voice and see the pain in his eyes, to know that she caused all of it. Wiping away tears she walked out of the boy's dorm and down to the common room, needing some peace so she could properly be sad for what she'd done.

"Brooke?" asked George and Brooke looked up to see him in front of her. "I thought it would be a little ways into rejecting me for you to start crying," he joked.

"Why does everyone think they know what I'm thinking?" asked Brooke.

"You were coming towards me, crying, I made a connection."

"You're so dense and you really need to work on your mind reading."

Brooke was done with words, there had been enough talking and fighting and crying and apologizing. It was time to let action speak louder than words. Brooke jumped on George, wrapping her arms around his neck as she planted a soft kiss against his lips. He had to steady himself against the couch from her unexpected leap into his arms but once that was done his arms found their way around her waist. Brooke was more than sure that their kiss lasted longer than was appropriate in a public setting but just then, she didn't care. When she released George's lips he lowered her feet back to the floor but kept his arms around her.

"I can't help but feel like you're trying to tell me something," said George.

"I was going for a bit of subtly," Brooke replied.

"If there's one thing you aren't, Brooke Cole, it's subtle."

"Look who's talking."

"Never said it was a bad thing."

George then noticed her necklace and reached down, fixing the gem back around the right way.

"I seem to have had a moment of genius and discovered that a certain redheaded someone got me this necklace," said Brooke and she realized she was twirling the ends of George's hair around finger.

"Bloody hell, there's another redheaded git after you?" George teased.

"Better watch out, the only redheads I know are your brothers," Brooke winked playfully and then laid her forehead against George's. "Thank you for noticing and for caring enough to waste your time working just to buy it for me."

"It was your eyes that gave it away, it's like I could see the desire in them and I always wanted you to look at me that way."

"What do my eyes tell you now?"

Brooke looked into George's eyes as he looked into hers and she saw in his a joy that hadn't been there for months.

"Exactly what I have always wanted to see," George said, kissing her again briefly. "Why were you crying?"

"I told Fred that he wasn't the twin for me," Brooke replied sadly.

"I'm sorry."

"Me too but it was time I made a decision."

"I must admit, I am pleased by this outcome."

"Stop shocking me with these surprising revelations."

George chuckled and Brooke buried her face into his neck in a hug, it was finally over, everything was finally over.


	20. Walking On Air

**PART 20-WALKING ON AIR**

School was over for the year, the year of hell if you asked Brooke, she was glad it was over. She had packed up her trunk and bid farewell to the castle and was happy to board the train that would take her home. The last few months at school hadn't been the easiest; the twins had had to take a little time to adjust to what had happened to the other. Fred had tried to be friendly and keep up his bantering with Brooke but it didn't have the same quip like it used to. Her and George always found themselves looking over their shoulder when they shared affection, not wanting Fred to see. Just because Brooke had chosen George didn't mean it needed to be rubbed in Fred's face at every corridor.

It had taken the remainder of the school year for things to mainly go back to the way they were. The twins had become exactly as they were before, no more awkwardness between them and they were back raising hell in Hogwarts. Fred had given Angelina another chance after weeks of hanging out and getting to know each other better. The relationship had seemed to make Fred better and things between him and Brooke had lost their strain and it was like they were back to where they had been a year ago. Brooke though had her limits with him now, she didn't link arms or touch him too much or kiss his cheek like she use to, she didn't want to send signals and she didn't want to give any wrong impressions.

Things with George had been amazing, stolen kisses in alcoves, homemade present wars each trying to outdo the last, secret rendezvous in the forest to watch the sunrise, and causing Lee various maladies from testing pranks. Brooke never understood why he kept coming back for more after all the side effects he suffered. That was a true friend, one who continued to help even after losing all his hair. Slowly things around them being affectionate in public, and even in front of Fred, waned, with Fred and Angelina holding hands and sharing kisses, Brooke decided it was okay for her and George to do the same. It was almost like the whole thing had been forgotten, or at least purposefully ignored and it was nice to have things back to the way they were. As Brooke was pulling her trunk into the common room, George appeared from the portrait hole and smiled at Brooke.

"I was hoping I'd catch you before you got too far," he said, taking her trunk from her. "I've got to do my quota of good deeds for you."

"You keep count?" asked Brooke.

"Women remember things that guys don't; I always have to make sure I do more things for you, than you do for me."

"Do you really think I'm like other women?"

"You are not like other women, Brooke, but you are a woman."

"Valid point."

Brooke kissed George for a moment and then released her trunk to him, before following him out of the castle. As they continued on their path to the train, Brooke couldn't believe that it was going to be their last year at Hogwarts when they returned. It was like her home and to think she wouldn't be returning more than once, left her a little sad. She knew she was being dramatic, after all there still was one more year but after the year she'd had, she was weary of what the next one would bring. George continued to take her trunk onto the train and took it to a compartment where Fred and Angelina were already present. He lugged it into the overhead compartment and they both took the seat across from Fred and Angelina.

"I thought you'd gotten lost," said Fred.

"It's not my fault that Brooke's trunk is heavier than a hippogriff," George teased.

"It's no heavier than yours!" Brooke scoffed.

"I'm almost positive you used a charm on your room to shrink everything and take it with you."

"You're detracting from your score."

"Teasing does not take away good deeds."

"That seems unfair."

"An act is greater than speech."

"I disagree; words can hurt and cause damage, which should take away from the all around score."

"What in the bloody hell are you two going on about?" asked Angelina.

"George is keeping score of good deeds we do for one another so he's always ahead and prevent me from holding anything over his head," replied Brooke.

"The system works," said George.

"It can't work unless I make the rules or else it won't matter, it's the system to keep me happy and I say teasing takes away half of a good deed."

"I agree with Brooke, teasing should detract," Angelina added.

"Back me up here, Fred!"

"I say it should only be taken away if the teasing is genuinely hurtful," said Fred and all four looked to each other and nodded.

"The rules are now updated," George said, clapping his hands for effect. "Feel free to apply them to your own relationship, I would be honored."

Fred grinned and Angelina scrunched her nose cutely at him, causing Fred to tap her nose with his. Brooke was surprised to not feel even just an inkling of jealousy at seeing Fred with Angelina. She knew she would have no right but she thought it would hurt some but she felt genuine joy. Seeing Fred and Angelina happy made her happy and no other feelings seemed to penetrate that. When she turned to George he was sticking his finger down his throat and pretending to barf. Brooke shoved him playfully and he shoved her back and soon they were at battle.

Each one trying to knock the other over as far as possible to the side until someone gave up. Brooke was laughing and George was trying to find ways to tickle her to cause her to lose and when Brooke gave in she turned to see Angelina watching her with a strange expression she couldn't place. Through the last few months Brooke had noticed that Fred and Angelina were more sweet with each other. They were always touching or holding hands or saying nice things and cuddling. Her and George did those things sometimes but Brooke enjoyed the playful bantering and teasing they did with each other as well. She liked guys to be able to be sensitive but that didn't mean she wanted George to be at her every beck and call. Even if she did, she knew George wouldn't like it and relationships were about give and take.

"Where's Lee?" asked Brooke, her fingers now entwined with George's.

"With his new girlfriend, she's got him whipped," Fred replied.

"Apparently guys don't mind since you and George are too," said Angelina.

"Nice one, Ang!" Brooke said chuckling and sticking her tongue out at George as he rolled his eyes. The majority of the train ride was spent talking about summer plans and how they were going to spend their last year at Hogwarts when they returned. Fred and George talked about some new pranks and pranks in progress and Brooke and Angelina were acting like friends. It was nice. When the train ride started getting close to being over, Fred and George decided to go scout for Lee and bring him in to say goodbye. Brooke and Angelina stayed, making Brooke a little nervous of what they'd talk about now.

"Brooke," Angelina said after a slowly forming awkward silence.

"Yeah?" Brooke replied.

"That little shove fight you had with George, do you enjoy doing things like that?"

"I've grown up having little fights like that so it's normal for me, it actually is fun though. Being a competitive person, it brings out the competitiveness in me."

"Do you think...do you think Fred would like us to do things like that?"

"He's a jokester and prankster but Fred is also the more...persuasive of the twins. It's pretty easy to convince him to get him to do what you want without much of a fight. George likes to tease and tends to be more sarcastic before he eventually gives in. Fred would be fine with what you're fine with but that also doesn't mean he would object to something out of your comfort zone."

"I don't want to do things to make him unhappy."

"You're not, Ang, trust me, Fred is completely happy with you."

"Do you really think so?"

"I know so."

Brooke leaned forward and patted Angelina's hand for comfort and then saw movement outside in the corridor and a moment later Lee and the twins were coming into the compartment. Lee fell down next to Brooke and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, shaking her slightly.

"So I imagine I will be seeing you frequently this summer as always?" asked Lee.

"Absolutely, Lee!" Brooke said, squeezing his nose. "My dad has decided we need a pool so bring your bathing suit when you come over. It might just end up being a sprinkler in the grass when my dad decides a pool is too much work but we can hope."

"If I offer my service do you think we can get that pool?"

"You can try."

"What about you, Ang, what's your summer plans?" asked Lee.

"It's open ended right now, I don't have anything really planned except visiting Fred," Angelina replied.

"Then I'll see you a lot as well! The expansion of our group is definitely an improvement."

"Speaking of," said Brooke. "When do we get to meet your significant other?"

"Never, I'd rather you not scare her away," Lee replied.

"Lee, come now, I am the nicest person when it comes to your girlfriends."

"It's not you I'm worried about, it's the other two."

Lee pointed his thumb at the twins and they feigned disbelief and both folded their arms and turned away from Lee.

"I see your point," Brooke said, grinning.

"Hey!" the twins shouted indignantly and Lee and Brooke chuckled and Brooke went to George and Lee went to Fred and they wrapped their arms around them and hugged them tightly.

"We're just teasing," said Brooke.

"I am taking a point away," George said, pulling Brooke from his back and into his arms.

"You better not, what you said to me earlier was way worse."

"I disagree."

George covered Brooke's mouth so she couldn't argue and she rolled her eyes at him and turned to see Lee and Fred in a headlock battle and they quit their argument to watch and root for them. When the whistle blew, signaling the train ride was over it was like an instant mood killer. Everyone looked downtrodden and Lee bid them farewell and left and Brooke returned to sitting on the bench and Fred and Angelina began talking quietly to each other. Brooke looked at George and raised an eyebrow and leaned close to him.

"We should pretend like we're talking about important things like them," Brooke whispered.

"What should we talk about?" asked George.

"How soon can I expect you flooing into my house?"

"Tonight?"

"Molly won't let you go your first night back."

"I'll sneak away."

"I like Molly, I don't want her being mad at me for taking away her baby boy, come visit me tomorrow, give her today."

"That you care about things like that is why you are amazing."

"That you listen and agree with me is why you are amazing."

"We're both amazing."

"Very true."

Brooke pulled George in for a hug; resting her head on his shoulder and just letting him comfort her while she felt the train slowing down. All it took was a hug for her to be completely content and happy. She could just feel the connection between her and George and the way he smelled seemed to linger on her when he was gone. It was nice having that reminder of him for a few hours after he'd gone. Brooke hated hurting Fred by choosing George over him but she knew she made the right choice, she could just feel it whenever she was with him.

She didn't know for sure if she would have felt that way with Fred but something inside her told her she wouldn't have. When Brooke pulled away George kissed her on the forehead and then stood up and grabbed their trunks, since George had his trunk Brooke had to lug hers. They all went in a line out of the train and onto the platform, stepping off to the side to say their final goodbyes. Brooke set her trunk down and then hugged Angelina briefly and then did the same with Fred, not letting anything last for too long.

"I'll see you both this summer," Brooke said, and Angelina and Fred both went a different direction and Brooke knew it was because they wanted to say goodbye to each other without her and George seeing them.

"I'm going to miss you until tomorrow," said Brooke, wrapping her arms around George's neck.

"I'm going to miss you until tonight," George teased.

"Tomorrow."

"Alright, alright, just curious if you remembered."

"I remember everything you tell me, George Weasley."

"I still can't believe you chose me, Brooke, and I've never been happier than I have been these last few months with you."

"Neither have I."

Brooke pressed her lips to George's and kissed him long enough to be happy but short enough that people weren't staring.

"Ugh, get a room!" Bailey said, and Brooke saw her emerge from the train.

"Isn't that more disturbing of an image, Bails?" asked George and Bailey turned bright red and Brooke giggled.

"I better go, me and Bailey are supposed to always greet the parents together so that it seems like I'm watching her all the time as they demanded," said Brooke.

"See you tomorrow," said George.

"Tomorrow."

Brooke gave George one last kiss and then looped her arm in Bailey's and they began to walk to the barrier together.

"It all worked out," said Bailey.

"It did," Brooke replied.

"Will you make next year less eventful?"

"Oh, Bails, I sure hope so."

"Good, cause I'm all out of good advice."

"I highly doubt that."

Brooke knocked her shoulder with Bailey's and then looked to the barrier and then back to Bailey and they both stopped and looked at each other. Bailey knew exactly what Brooke was thinking and a moment later they were both racing to reach the barrier first.

~Fin

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

_OMG! It's finished! Finally! It's taken a really long time, this I know, but finally it is finished and I hope it is finished on a happy note. There is, and will not, be a sequel or plans for a sequel. But there is a possibility of a one-shot if I get inspiration or feel like it needs one but there is nothing like that in the works. Let me know if the ending satisfied you guys and if not tell me what it was missing and maybe that will be the one-shot. This story is one of my favorites because I still remember starting it with my friend Addict so many years ago and even though I wrote the remainder on my own, I still consider it our story because we thought of the idea together. So yeah, yay! It's completed and I'm so happy that it is!_

_P.S. I suggest everyone listen to Walking On Air by Kerli, Kerli is an amazing artist and her music is inspirational and beautiful. Be warned, if you like Walking On Air, you just may become a Moonchild like me. :) You're welcome._

_~Fluffy_

**For copyright reasons, and in case you all were curious, I am going to name the bands whose songs I used in each chapter, starting from Part 1. I own neither the songs or the bands. Boston, Dierks Bentley, Dr. Hook, Evanescence, Peggy Lee, Jimmy Eat World, The Pierces, Linkin Park, Fallout Boy, Slipknot, Pink, The Pierces, 311, The Supremes, The Carpenters, Ella Fitzgerald, Linkin Park, Mary MacGregor, VersaEmerge, && Kerli.**


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